MacRumors

Ahead of the launch of the iPad Pro, Apple executives have been doing a series of interviews to drum up excitement and interest in the device. Earlier today, The Independent published an interview with Tim Cook where he shared his thoughts on the Apple Pencil and the iPad Pro's target market.

This afternoon, The Telegraph published a second interview where Tim Cook spoke further on his vision of the iPad Pro as a PC replacement and how tablets are subsuming the PC market. According to Cook, the iPad Pro will serve as a replacement for a notebook or desktop computer for "many, many people."

"I think if you're looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?" [...]

"Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones."

Cook also said the iPad Pro will be highly appealing to artists and other creatives, pointing towards the ease of use of the Apple Pencil and the iPad Pro's sound system, two features he also highlighted in his earlier interview with The Independent.

According to Cook, sales of the new Apple TV were "very strong," a sentiment he echoed for the Apple Watch, which will "set a new record this quarter." Cook also said Apple doesn't have plans to introduce sensors or other health features that would cause the FDA to get involved with the device. He didn't rule out the possibility of other products that require FDA approval, like apps.

We don't want to put the watch through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process. I wouldn't mind putting something adjacent to the watch through it, but not the watch, because it would hold us back from innovating too much, the cycles are too long. But you can begin to envision other things that might be adjacent to it -- maybe an app, maybe something else."

Tim Cook's interview, where he also speaks on the iPad mini 4 and device cannibalization, the health benefits of the Apple Watch, and the possibility of an Apple subscription service is well worth reading over at The Telegraph.

Apple's iPad Pro will go on sale online on Wednesday, November 11. Pricing for the iPad Pro starts at $799 for the entry-level 32GB Wi-Fi only model. A 128GB Wi-Fi only model is available for $949, and a 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model is available for $1,079.

Apple today launched a new ad for the iPad Pro, entitled "A Great Big Universe." The ad depicts a gorgeous and detailed close up of the solar system, which zooms out to show that it's actually being displayed on the iPad Pro's Retina display. According to The Verge, the ad will premiere on TV tonight during Monday Night Football.

There's a great big universe in the new iPad Pro. It's the largest iPad ever and takes your creativity and productivity to an epic scale.

The new iPad Pro ad comes just two days before Apple will began accepting orders for the device. This morning, Apple announced orders would begin online on Wednesday, November 11, with the iPad Pro available in stores later in the week.

Pricing for the iPad Pro starts at $799 for the entry-level 32GB Wi-Fi only model. A 128GB Wi-Fi only model is available for $949, and a 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model is available for $1,079. The iPad Pro is available in the three signature iPad colors: Space Gray, Silver, and Gold.

Apple will also be allowing customers to order the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard, the two accessories that are designed to be used with the iPad Pro. The Apple Pencil, a pressure-sensitive stylus, will be available for $99 while the Smart Keyboard is priced at $169.

Following today's announcement that iPad Pro online orders begin November 11, with in-store availability later this week, CNNMoney and The Independent have published interviews with Apple executives Eddy Cue and Tim Cook respectively about the new 12.9-inch tablet.

"One of the things with the iPad Pro that’s amazing is the sound — it’s got four speakers on it," said Cue. "And so the first time -- even myself as we were developing it -- I got my hands on it and I heard it, it changed the way I thought of the product even. I didn’t realize how much of a difference it was going to make that you have stereo sound coming out of a device like this."

Cook also said the iPad Pro delivers a "first-class audio experience," and called the tablet a capable "laptop replacement" when used with a Smart Keyboard. The chief executive further emphasized that the Apple Pencil is not a stylus, but rather a sketching tool that complements the iPad Pro's traditional multi-touch input.

“Well, we didn’t really do a stylus, we did a Pencil. The traditional stylus is fat, it has really bad latency so you’re sketching here and it’s filling the line in somewhere behind. You can’t sketch with something like that, you need something that mimics the look and feel of the pencil itself or you’re not going to replace it. We’re not trying to replace finger touch, we’re complementing it with the Pencil.”

Cook believes the iPad Pro's target market will consist of a lot of PC users, customers without Apple products and existing iPad users looking to upgrade to a "very different" device. The tablet also has value for creative companies like Touchpress, the makers of several interactive musical apps for Apple devices.

Where the iPad Pro is concerned, Alex Johnston, Chief Marketing Officer, told me: “For a business like Touchpress with the kind of content we like to produce, we value the more beautiful screen, the better audio. We re-imagine familiar music or text in a way to give you fresh perspectives on it. So having more screen real estate allows us to do that a lot.

“The thing that struck me the most,” Johnston went on, “is that it completely transformed the iPad experience when you use the Pencil or the Keyboard with it. It’s not just that I want it because it’s the best iPad, it’s that the tools that go with it allow me to do things that my finger won’t allow me to do.”

Adobe has also shared a video where visual designers, illustrators, educators and other creative professionals offer positive first impressions of the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, with a focus on Creative Cloud apps including Illustrator Draw, Photoshop Mix, Photoshop Sketch and Photoshop Fix.

Apple today released the first update to tvOS, the new operating system that runs on the fourth-generation Apple TV. tvOS 9.0.1 is a minor update that likely includes bug fixes and performance updates to address issues discovered since the launch of tvOS on October 30.

The new 9.0.1 update can be downloaded over-the-air through the Settings app on the Apple TV by going to System --> Software Update.

Apple has not provided release notes for the tvOS 9.0.1 update, so the exact details on what's new are not yet known. Any discoveries we make will be added to this post.

tvOS 9.0.1 comes as Apple is testing the first major update to the operating system, tvOS 9.1. Apple has thus far seeded one beta of tvOS 9.1 to developers, with release notes for that beta pointing towards improvements to networking and scrolling. tvOS 9.1 also appears to include support for Siri search for Apple Music.

Apple recently confirmed that Siri is coming to Apple Music on the new Apple TV at the beginning of next year, but iDownloadBlog has discovered the virtual assistant can now be used for certain music-related commands on the latest tvOS 9.1 beta ahead of time.

Jeff Benjamin shared a video demo of Siri being used to search for songs, albums, artists and playlists on Apple Music from the Home screen on the new Apple TV, without needing to open the Apple Music app. Siri can also be used to play and pause Beats 1 radio.

Apple will likely continue testing limited Siri support for Apple Music before making the feature publicly available in 2016, so the functionality may be spotty or unavailable entirely for some users.

Apple today announced that its much-anticipated larger-screened iPad Pro will go on sale at Apple Stores, select carriers and Apple Authorized Resellers in the U.S. and over 40 countries starting later this week, with online orders set to begin on Wednesday, November 11.

While Apple will not begin accepting online orders until Wednesday, November 11, other retailers have already begun allowing customers to place orders for the iPad Pro. Sam's Club was the first to accept pre-orders but quickly sold out, while MacMall and Staples are still accepting orders. Ordering from one of these sites will not guarantee delivery later this week - MacMall doesn't expect orders to ship until November 16, while Staples lists a launch date of November 25.

Apple's iPad Pro is its new flagship tablet with a 12.9-inch Retina display, a super powerful A9X processor, a four speaker audio system, 4GB RAM, and an 8-megapixel rear camera.

“The early response to iPad Pro from app developers and our customers has been incredible, and we’re excited to get iPad Pro into the hands of customers around the world this week,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPad Pro is the most powerful iPad we’ve ever made, giving users the ability to be even more creative and more productive with the epic 12.9-inch Retina display, powerful 64-bit A9X chip and groundbreaking Apple Pencil and new Smart Keyboard. We can’t wait to see what they do with iPad Pro.”

Pricing for the iPad Pro starts at $799 for the entry-level 32GB Wi-Fi only model. A 128GB Wi-Fi only model is available for $949, and a 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model is available for $1,079. The iPad Pro is available in the three signature iPad colors: Space Gray, Silver, and Gold.

iPad Pro will be available in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greenland, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, UAE, U.S., U.K., Uruguay and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Apple will also be allowing customers to order the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard, the two accessories that are designed to be used with the iPad Pro. The Apple Pencil, a pressure-sensitive stylus, will be available for $99 while the Smart Keyboard is priced at $169.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup today dismissed a lawsuit against Apple that had been brought by several retail employees over Apple's policy of conducting required security searches of personal bags without compensation after workers had clocked out for meal breaks or at the end of their shifts, reports Bloomberg. The class action lawsuit covered thousands of employees at Apple's California retail stores.

The ruling by a San Francisco federal judge Saturday releases the company from having to compensate as many [as] 12,400 former and current employees from 52 stores throughout the state a few dollars a day for time spent over a six-year period having their bags and Apple devices searched at meal breaks and after their shifts. A law professor who reviewed filings in the case estimated Apple could have been be on the hook for as much as $60 million, plus penalties.

In his ruling, Alsup noted that employees could have avoided the searches, as some employees did, by not bringing personal bags to work. The lawsuit had been restricted to California as the U.S. Supreme Court had previously ruled workers are not entitled to compensation for time spent in post-shift bag searches under federal law.

An attorney for the plaintiffs in the case reports they are weighing their potential next steps, which could include an appeal of Alsup's ruling.

Apple executive Eddy Cue sat down with CNN senior correspondent Brian Stelter last week for a two-part interview about the new Apple TV, describing the fourth-generation device as an "add-on for most people," since content providers such as ABC, CNN and WatchESPN still require authenticating with a cable or satellite TV subscription.

But what about buying a whole cable package, including CBS, right through the TV?

"If Comcast or any other provider wants to do that, they'll be able to do that with the current Apple TV," Cue said.

When I asked directly if Apple wants to get to the point that Moonves has been describing, an Apple-branded TV package, Cue said, "We want to get to the point where customers are able to buy whatever they want, however they want. We're not fixed into 'There's only one way to buy it.' Just like we've done with the App Store, where there have been things that have been free; things that you subscribe to; things that you pay for; things that are in-app. All of those capabilities will be here and we want that market to be able to develop."

Apple's rumored streaming TV service is expected to deliver a lightweight package of about 25 channels for around $40 per month, anchored by popular networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, and could launch in 2016 following multiple delays in negotiations between Apple and content providers.

The new Apple TV launched last Friday and features an App Store, Siri, tvOS and more.

Apple will be updating the iOS App Store today to introduce a new Shopping category that will allow iOS users to better find shopping-related apps. According to TechCrunch the Shopping category will be available to users worldwide and will encompass apps that offer shopping, auctions, price comparisons, coupons, product reviews, and more, transitioning them from the existing Lifestyle category to the new less noisy category.

Apple plans to use the Shopping category to highlight apps that support Apple Pay, its mobile payments service. Many apps now include Apple Pay integration, letting users pay for merchandise with a finger on the Touch ID fingerprint button on supported devices.

The new App Store category will include launch with several different collections of shopping apps, including a "Save While You Shop" category that will be offering exclusive discounts from a variety of merchants like Everlane, Zappos, Groupon, and Nordstrom. Nordstrom, for example, will offer a free gift when $100 or more is spent in the app, while Zappos will offer free 1-day shipping.

App Store users should begin seeing the category in the App Store later today, and in the future, it's possible Apple could expand it to the tvOS App Store as well. The tvOS App Store currently only supports two categories, Games and Entertainment, but shopping on the big screen has been a feature that's been touted by Apple.