MacRumors

At today’s media event in San Francisco, Apple debuted its much-anticipated fifth-generation iPad, re-named the iPad Air, which has been redesigned to resemble Apple's thinner-bezeled iPad mini. With its narrower side bezels and a slimmer form factor, the iPad Air is significantly lighter and smaller than the fourth-generation iPad, weighing in at only one pound. The iPad Air is 20 percent thinner and 28 percent lighter than the fourth-generation iPad.

Along with a redesigned chassis, the new iPad includes a 2048x1536 Retina display with a film-based sensor and an upgraded 64-bit A7 processor alongside the M7 motion coprocessor, plus a 5-megapixel rear iSight camera and a next generation FaceTime HD camera with improved backside illumination for better low-light performance.

With the A7 chip, the iPad Air offers twice the CPU and graphics performance of the previous iPad. The 64-bit architecture supports Open GL ES version 3.0, for "game console-like visual effects."

"iPad created an entirely new mobile computing experience, and the new iPad Air is another big leap ahead. It is so thin, light and powerful, once you hold one in your hand you will understand what a tremendous advancement this is,” said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPad Air with its 9.7-inch Retina display weighs just one pound and packs the incredible performance of iOS 7 running on a 64-bit desktop-class Apple A7 chip, and delivers all-day battery life in the lightest full-sized tablet in the world."

Available in white/silver and black/space gray, the iPad Air comes in both 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and LTE cellular models that feature two antennas to support Multiple-In-Multiple-Out (MIMO) technology, which offers twice the Wi-Fi performance and data rates up to 300Mbps. Cellular models also feature expanded LTE coverage for additional worldwide LTE networks.

The iPad Air continues to offer up to 10 hours of battery life and is available in capacities ranging from 16 GB to 128 GB. U.S. Pricing remains the same as previous models, at $499/$599/$699/$799 for Wi-Fi versions, plus an additional $129 for comparable cellular versions. The iPad Air will be available on November 1 at 8 a.m. local time in the United States and more than 40 other countries in Europe and Asia.

The iPad Air will replace the current full-sized fourth-generation iPad, but Apple will continue to sell the iPad 2 at $399 for the 16 GB model. Alongside the iPad Air, Apple has also announced new Smart Covers and cases designed to fit the smaller chassis.

As part of its iPad lineup update announced today, Apple introduced the second-generation iPad mini, which as expected is equipped with a 7.9-inch Retina display with a resolution of 2048x1536, matching the resolution of the full-sized Retina iPad. The Retina iPad mini is slightly thicker than the original iPad mini, measuring in at 7.5 mm thick and 0.73 pounds (0.75 pounds for cellular-capable models) compared to 7.2 millimeters and 0.68 pounds for the original generation. The new iPad mini will launch on an unspecified date in November and will be available in both white/silver and black/space gray options.

Internally, the Retina iPad mini includes a 64-bit A7 processor, M7 motion co-processor, and an upgraded 5-megapixel rear iSight camera with a backside illumination sensor and 1080p HD video capability. Meanwhile, the front of the device now features a new FaceTime HD camera with larger pixels that is also accompanied by dual microphones. The new iPad mini also now features multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) technology that offers up to 2x faster Wi-Fi, with both 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and LTE cellular models that available with up to 10 hours of battery life.

Apple has raised the price of the iPad with the inclusion of a Retina screen, and will offer it in 16, 32, 64, and new 128 GB models, beginning at $399 in the United States.

In addition to offering the Retina iPad mini, Apple will continue to sell the existing iPad mini at a lower price, offering only the low-end 16 GB model at $299 for Wi-Fi and $429 for Wi-Fi + Cellular. The first-generation black models will also see a shift from the previous slate shell to Apple's new space gray color.

The new iPad mini will be available next month, while the first-generation models at $299/$429 are available immediately.

At today's media event in San Francisco, Apple announced the release window, specs and pricing for the long-awaited update to the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro, which will be released by the end of the year, is Apple's first computer in many years to be assembled in the United States. During the event, Apple noted that more than 2,000 people in 20 states are involved in the Mac Pro's development and assembly.

The new Mac Pro is a complete and radical redesign of the tower/workstation design that Apple has used since the G5 tower was introduced in 2003. The tower includes a unique cylindrical design that wraps all of the machine's components around a unified thermal core which absorbs heat from throughout the machine and disperses it through a vertically-oriented fan that draws air in from the bottom of the machine and vents it out through the machine's top.

The Mac Pro features the latest Intel Ivy Bridge E Xeon processors with up to 12 cores, dual AMD FirePro GPUs, six Thunderbolt 2 ports, and PCIe-based flash storage with ECC memory, USB 3.0, and faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

"The new Mac Pro is our vision for the future of the pro desktop, everything about it has been reimagined and there has never been anything like it," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "The new Mac Pro packs up to 12-core Xeon CPUs, dual FirePro GPUs, ultra-fast ECC memory, new PCIe flash storage, Thunderbolt 2 expandability and more into a radical new design that is one-eighth the size of the previous generation Mac Pro."

In the United States, pricing for the Mac Pro begins at $2,999 for the entry-level model, with a number of additional build-to-order components available at an additional cost. The Mac Pro will begin shipping in December.

Apple gave an unusual sneak peek at the redesigned Mac Pro earlier this year at WWDC, after promising a year earlier that a redesign was forthcoming. The redesigned Mac Pro is the first update the product has seen in more than three years.

Apple today unveiled new 13 and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros, which have been updated with Intel’s latest processors for enhanced performance and significantly improved battery life. The 13-inch version features a Haswell processor, while the 15-inch version comes equipped with a Crystal Well processor.

While the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro retains the same form factor as its predecessor, the 13-inch version is now thinner, with both versions measuring in at 0.71-inches thick. With the new processors, the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro will now have 9 hours of battery life, while the 15-inch version will have 8 hours of battery life.

“We’ve made the world’s best pro notebook even better by adding more performance and even longer battery life,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “MacBook Pro with Retina display continues to redefine the pro notebook.”

The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro now features dual-core Intel Core i5 processors up to 2.6Ghz, with Intel’s integrated Iris graphics for 90 percent faster performance than the previous generation. At an added cost, the 13-inch version can be upgraded with 2.8Ghz dual-core Intel i7 processors.

The 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro features quad-core Intel Core i7 processors up to 2.6Ghz (via add-on), with Intel’s Iris Pro 5200 Integrated Graphics. A GeForce GT 750M discrete graphics card with 2GB of video memory can also be added on

In addition to improved Intel chips, the new MacBooks feature 802.11ac "Gigabit" Wi-Fi compatibility, which offers speeds up to three times as fast as existing 802.11n wireless networks. They have also gained dual Thunderbolt 2 ports and PCIe flash storage, which pushes peak read/write performance to nearly 800 MB/s, a 45 percent improvement over previous generation technology.

Apple has not updated its line of standard MacBook Pros, indicating that the non-Retina versions are likely to be discontinued in the future, though the company continues to offer the 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro.

Apple has reduced the pricing of the Retina MacBook Pros by $200, offering the entry level 13-inch version for $1,299 and the entry level 15-inch model for $1,999. Apple’s updated MacBooks are available today from Apple’s Online Store and at retail locations and come with Mavericks included.

At its media event today, Apple announced that OS X Mavericks, the next version of its Macintosh operating system, will launch today on the Mac App Store. Mavericks will be available exclusively through the Mac App Store for free.

As we covered in our Mavericks roundup, the new OS will include enhanced multiple-monitor support, big improvements to the Notification Center, an improved Finder, better power management, and improved performance in Safari.

Mavericks also includes a number of brand new features, including a new iCloud Keychain function to save passwords across iOS and Mac devices, new Mac apps for iBooks and Apple Maps, along with UI redesigns for a number of built-in applications.

Apple's highly anticipated October media event is being held today at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The event begins at 10:00 AM Pacific Time / 1:00 PM Eastern Time, and Apple is expected to unveil a number of new products including updated iPads, new Retina MacBook Pros, and new iLife and iWork offerings.

The company should also be providing final looks at the redesigned Mac Pro and OS X Mavericks before their public launches in the coming weeks. Our expectations for these updates are summarized in the Roundups section of our site.

Apple will be providing a live video stream on its website for Mac and iOS users and via Apple TV.

Live Video Stream of Apple's October 2013 iPad and Mac Media Event

In addition, we will be updating this article with summary coverage and issuing Twitter updates through our @MacRumorsLive account as the event unfolds. Separate news stories regarding the event announcements will go out through our @MacRumors account.

Apple's online stores around the world are currently down in advance of the event.

The full liveblog is available after the jump.

➜ Click here to read rest of article...

At its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple introduced iWork for iCloud, a browser-based version of its productivity suite of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. The service has been in beta testing since that time, and the company is widely expected to make an official announcement about its launch at today's media event, alongside new versions of iWork for both OS X and iOS.

Confirming that iWork for iCloud should officially launch today immediately following Apple's media event, users attempting to access the iWork apps on iCloud.com are currently being greeted with messages alerting them that the service is being upgraded and that in "just a few short hours" they will have access to the new features.

(Thanks, Mario!)

A number of readers are reporting that the "Apple Events" channel has returned to their Apple TVs, revealing that Apple will indeed be offering a live video stream of today's media event. Apple has offered live streams of several recent events, but did not do so for last month's iPhone event.

Apple should also be making the stream available through its website, but the announcement and page for the stream have yet to go live.

Apple's keynote kicks off at 10:00 AM Pacific Time, and MacRumors will have full coverage of the event.

Update: Apple's website has now been updated with the live stream, and the company's online store has gone down as usual ahead of the event.

As with previous events, the stream through Apple's website requires a minimum of Safari 4 on OS X 10.6 or Safari on iOS 4.2.

(Apple TV images via @basvanderploeg)

Apple will launch 55- and 65-inch 4K ultra-high definition televisions late next year, if an analyst report from Masahiko Ishino at Advanced Research Japan is to be believed.

Bloomberg shared the report, claiming the displays will have a frameless design with suppliers including LG for display panels, Samsung for graphical processing, and Corning's Gorilla Glass 3 for glass covers with units priced from $1,500 to $2,500. Foxconn would be used for final assembly for initial delivery in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the analyst.

A number of companies released 4K ultra-high definition displays earlier this year, but they remain prohibitively expensive for the average consumer. We have no indication of reliability for predictions by Masahiko Ishino or Advanced Research Japan.

Earlier this year, an extremely sketchy report from Taiwan's Economic Daily News claimed Corning, Foxconn, G-Tech Optoelectronics and display maker Innolux were working with Apple on a new television product.

Ahead of the final unveiling of OS X Mavericks at tomorrow's media event and an expected public launch soon after, several high-profile websites including The New York Times and NBA.com have begun supporting the new Safari push notifications feature included with Mavericks, as noted by user Sky Blue in our forums. The feature allows users to subscribe to websites' notification services and have various types of alerts pushed to their Macs even when Safari is not running.

Push notifications in Mavericks may be a handy alternative to RSS or Twitter for many users, delivering clickable notifications directly to the users' desktops in a timely fashion.

While several sites have already begun to go live with their notification services, accessible to users running the OS X Mavericks beta, others will undoubtedly be following suit as Mavericks officially launches to the public. MacRumors will be supporting the feature, allowing users to receive instant notifications whenever new articles are posted to the site.

OS X Mavericks is expected to launch to the public before the end of the month, but may arrive as soon as this week following the final introduction at tomorrow's media event.

Electronica artist Adam Young, the musician behind the popular project Owl City, is responsible for many of the new sound and ringtones in iOS 7 according to the discography on the musician's website (via 9to5Mac).

Alongside the top-to-bottom redesign of the visual user interface in iOS 7, Jony Ive's design team -- with Young's help -- also reworked all the sounds in the OS as well. It isn't clear exactly which sounds Young worked on, though many of the texting and ringtones sound similar to his music.

Some of Adam Young's more well-known songs, under the Owl City name, include his breakout hit Fireflies, Good Time with Carly Rae Jepsen, and When Can I See You Again? from Disney's Wreck-It Ralph.

Young began creating songs in his parents' basement, sharing tracks on MySpace before signing with a record label and receiving commercial success. Like many musicians, he uses Macs and a number of different software titles including Apple's Logic, Pro Tools, and Propellerhead's Reason.

Update: The reference to Apple's iOS 7 sounds has been removed from Young's discography page.

Apple’s Mac sales are down seven percent year over year for the full September quarter, according to a new report from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster who looked at September data from market research firm NPD.

Based on the data, Munster suggests that U.S. Mac sales in the month of September were down 14 percent year over year, as during the July to August period, sales were down just three percent but dropped to seven percent down for the overall quarter.

We have analyzed domestic NPD retail data for the full September quarter which suggests Mac sales are tracking down 7% y/y. We note that the September data suggested the last month of the quarter was down 14%, which brought the average down from down 3% through the first to months to down 7% for the full quarter.

As with his previous reports, Munster notes that it remains difficult to extrapolate NPD data to Apple’s global sales performance, but he views the September quarter data point as "likely a neutral" due to the introduction of new MacBook Airs in June.

Overall, we believe the September quarter data point is likely a neutral given that Macs should have a slight tailwind from updated Macbooks in June. We remain comfortable with our down 5% y/y estimate for Macs in the September quarter.

Despite the fact that Apple is expected to debut Mavericks, updated Retina MacBook Pros, and the Mac Pro in October, Munster believes that Mac sales will continue to decline as Apple customers shift to iPads, with Macs representing a smaller part of Apple's overall business. Currently, Macs represent less than 15 percent of Apple’s total revenue.

iPod sales continue to decline too, with NPD data suggesting that domestic units are down 36 percent year over year (up slightly from 41% in the August data) in the full third quarter, with a 20 percent year over year drop in September. Because iPods now represent just 2% of all Apple’s revenue, the overall impact of this sales decline is minor.

Five months after it was initially announced, and after an unplanned delay due to unexpected demand, BlackBerry Messenger is finally launching on iOS. The app, which is similar to Apple’s own iMessage, was first announced back in May. It should launch on the App Store later today.

Back in September, the BBM for Android and iOS apps were delayed after an unreleased version of BBM was leaked that "caused issues" with the BBM servers.

To avoid similar issues with strong demand this time around, BlackBerry is using a staggered queue system to handle the demand. Users will install the app, enter their email address to hold their spot in line, and then will receive an email when they can start using BBM.

According to BlackBerry, there are still more than 60 million BBM users worldwide exchanging more than 10 billion messages per day. Though the BBM platform remains popular, it will need to compete with several other messaging services on iOS and Android, including WhatsApp and WeChat. WhatsApp alone has more than 300 million active users, sending 27 billion messages daily.

BlackBerry Messenger offers basic text chats, multi-person group chats, voice messaging (via push-to-talk), and image sharing. Contacts can be added via BBM PIN, SMS, email, or QR code. Users are asked to set up a profile, which includes an image, nickname, and status.

Update: The app is live: BBM is available free from the App Store. [Direct Link]