Since the Mac App Store now detects boxed copies of iWork and allows them to be updated to the Mac App Store version, it seems the trial versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are perceived by the App Store as being a full purchased copy. This allows users to install yesterday’s updated apps without having to pay anything.
We wouldn’t necessarily encourage it, but if you have a trial version of iWork, iLife or Aperture on your machine, updating now would probably be an appealing step. Of course, Apple may well have a way of rectifying the issue and pushing those on the trial back to their original position, but with iWork’s sales generating very little revenue compared with some of the fruit company’s other products, it may well be that Apple allows users to keep their free upgrades.
It’s unlikely that Apple can even fix the issue, since the trial versions of old iWork apps are identical to the retail copies (but require a serial number to activate). Since the apps use the same identifier whether activated or not, the App Store has no way to determine if the trial has been activated.
