This morning, Apple launched iWork.com, their new document feedback tool. The screenshot looks eerily familiar:

If it reminds you of Backboard, you’re not alone:

We encourage you to try out both services, and in doing so, you might notice some advantages to using Backboard:

Nothing to install on your computer

You don’t have to go out and buy a $79 product in order to use Backboard. Everything runs in your browser, and feedback is just a simple upload away. You don’t even need a Mac, though we would suggest it for your own sake.

Backboard has live streaming of feedback

No waiting to see who shows up, no waiting for two minutes for new feedback to load in. Everything streams right away.

You can add markup!

Want to draw an arrow? A line? A fluffy kitty cat? Want to circle something? You do any of these things with the red pen on Backboard.

Notifications on new feedback

If you’ve moved on to other things and don’t have Backboard open in your browser any more, it will send you an email when somebody leaves feedback on your document. Your reviewers get a notification when you add a new version. Of course, we only notify you once since your last visit, so you never get a torrent of email; you’re just kept appropriately up to date.

You can keep using the tools you’re used to

• Microsoft Office (doc, xls, ppt)
• PDFs
• Images (gif, jpg, tiff, png)

You don’t have to switch to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote in order to use Backboard to get feedback on your documents. Use Word, or InDesign, or OpenOffice.org! It all just works.

Security, included!

Backboard uses industry-standard SSL to protect your documents going in and coming out. And you can make any Backboard public and available, or you can restrict them to only the people you invite. It’s your choice.

Approvals and new versions

With Backboard, you can specifically ask your reviewers to indicate their approval, giving their comments a green background and a big checkmark. No ambiguity, ever: you know who has signed off and who hasn’t. You can upload a new version of your document to Backboard, too, letting your reviewers compare them next to each other.

Document feedback is here to stay.

All of us are really excited this morning about the future of document feedback. Having iWork.com in the same space validates what we knew all along: people want feedback on their documents, and they want a way to do it that’s easier than ever before. Try out Backboard today!