Apple updates iPad productivity apps to export Excel, PPT files

Apple has updated its iWork iPad apps today, with the most notable changes being the ability to export files as .xls and .ppt in Numbers and Keynote, respectively.

The $9.99 apps also list a number of improvements across the applications – in the app descriptions in the App Store, Apple mostly says “improved” this or that, without going into too much detail of how they are improved. That said, other notable changes include being able to open .txt files in Pages directly from Mail, and similarly to open .csv files in Numbers directly from Mail as well.

Also, all three apps now offer support to copy between the apps and your MobileMe iDisk or a WebDAV service, though as we don’t use either, we’re not really sure how important this will be for most users. These apps have been near or at the top of the paid apps in the iPad App Store since the iPad launched (Pages is currently #2, Keynote #6 and Numbers #7) even with their somewhat hefty price tags.

So do you consider these improvements much appreciated or are they just so-so to you die-hard iPad users? All of the apps are available in the App Store now and here are the iTunes links: Pages; Numbers; Keynote.