Along with the announcement of a new iMac lineup [1], earlier today, Apple has released the new iterations of its Office productivity and consumer software suites. The company also updated its .Mac service.

iLife '08

Apple's consumer software suite which includes iTunes (free), iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and Garageband has seen a major update.

The following is a quick overviews of the new features of each application included in the suite:

iPhoto
- Organization of large libraries as events
- Improved rating system
- New book and calendar templates
- support for .Mac Web Gallery (new .Mac feature).
- apply adjustments made in a photo to multiple photos at once

iMovie
- redesigned UI for better productivity
- video library management
- improved exporting
- supports .Mac Web Gallery and YouTube submission
- supports HDV, AVCHD, and still cameras in video mode

iDVD
- improved encoding
- new theme templates

iWeb
- improved for use with other than .Mac hosting
- support for Google Adsense, Google Maps, YouTube
- switchable themes

Garageband
- Magic Garageband, a virtual stage with virtual musicians who play many genres, the user can play or sing with them, pretty fun!
- supports Multi-take recording
- supports 24-bit audio interfaces

The announcement confirms a recent report [2] published on MacScoop last month, which claimed that the next iteration of iLife had gone Golden Master.

The suite retains the same price of $79.

iWork '08

Apple's office productivity suite, which includes Pages, Keynote and the just revealed Numbers has also been widely revamped. Here's a quick overview:

Pages
- word processing/page layout modes
- improved formating tools
- 140 new design templates

Keynote
- new effects and transitions
- new theme templates
- built-in animations editor

Numbers
- new spreadsheet application
- very easy to use user interface
- intelligent tables
- flexible canvas
- imports/exports Excel spreadsheets

The three applications include change tracking with Microsoft Office compatibility.

.Mac

Apple has also increased the storage limit of the .Mac service to 10GB and 100GB of monthly traffic (formerly 1GB and 10GB). The annual fee remains at $99 with family packs available as well.

The suite ads the .Mac Gallery feature which allows you to share your pictures and videos easily in the Web 2.0 way and let others upload their media on your gallery.