Apple unveils iPad Air, iPad Mini with Retina display
Apple is hosting an event in San Francisco on Tuesday, where it is widely expected the company will announce a new lineup of iPad tablets.
Follow the latest updates from USA TODAY's Marco della Cava below:
11:23: Cook signs off inviting press to "get your hands on these products...Thank you for joining us." And thank YOU for joining me for this live blog from Apple's new iPad event. One final note: Hey, where's the cool band to make the final musical statement, a la Elvis Costello or the Foo Fighters? Maybe next time.
11:21: Tim Cook returns to the stage, standing before images of new iPads. "In just a few weeks we had our largest iPhone launch ever, and we launched iOS7, and just today, the new MacBook Pros with stunning displays and incredible battery performance. ...We announced new versions of iWork and iLife for OS X and iOS. And we couldn't be prouder of both iPads, Air and Mini. We have made a cool new ad (on the iPad Air) that we'd like to run for you now." The ad is a voiceover showing the iPad in different work and play environments, classrooms to boardrooms. "We can't wait to see where you'll take it next."
11:17: iPad Mini gets Retina Display for its 7.9 inch diagonal display. Faster, plus has 5 megapixel camera, comes in silver, white, space gray and black, and costs $399 for 16GB with Wifi, and $529 with cell tech. iPad Mini drops to $299.
11:14: Jony Ive narrates iPad Air video. Says its simplicity belies a ruggedness of a device that is "meant to be taken places," it's "not precious."
11:12: iPad Air replaces top of the line iPad, $499 with 16GB Wifi. Ships Nov 1. iPad2 drops to $399. China gets product, too, as it did with new iPhones.
11:10: iPad on a diet, down to 1 lb, from 1.4 lb. Smaller bezel, lighter feel. Inside, Apple A7 chip, same as iPhone 5s. 64-bit desktop class architecture, over 1 billion transistors. CPU performance is double previous generation, ditto with graphics. In fact graphics are 72 times better than original iPad, an improvement when playing games, "it's screaming fast."
11:08: Schiller back on stage now, taking over for Cook to announce updates to next gen iPad: "This is the biggest step yet." Video plays: Image of super thin device on screen. "Thinner, lighter, more powerful, and it deserves a new name: iPad Air."
11:04: Video showcasing many ways iPad being used, from navigation for a rally driver to surgeon's tool to menu to coach's helper in a football huddle to a lone climber perched on the side of a snowy vertical face.
11:02: Cooks says there are 475,000 iPad-specific apps, versus just "stretched smartphone apps."
11:01: Cook lists name-less quotes saying iPad wasn't going to fly. "Earlier this month we sold our 170 millionth iPad. I can't think of another product that's come so far, so fast. Now, everyone seems to be making a tablet, even some of the doubters." Shows graphic: iPad usage is 81 percent of tablet share.
11: Cook back on stage: "Next up, iPad."
10:56: All the productivity apps will be available for free, says Cue. Free seems to be the operative word of this Apple event. "It's the biggest day ever for apps."
10:55: iWork for iCloud now features Collaboration: click the Share button, and you can edit the same document at the same time.
10:51: Big updates to iWork, says Cue. new UI for Pages, including handy formatting panels that are easier to get to. "We're not cluttering the screens with a lot of controls." Numbers has that new iOS7 look, simpler, cleaner. Keynote has "new effects and animations ...we're been running the new Keynote in this presentation." There are "more realistic physics to the transitions."
10:48: Demo of GarageBand on stage: swapping out different drummers makes a so-so tune perk up. Where's John Bonham when you need him?
10:45: Eddie Cue up now talking about apps. New versions of some iLife apps announced. iPhoto: new look, PhotoBooks now available for iPad. iPhoto: easier to share, desktop class effects for movie-making, frame rates can be slowed down taking advantage of iPhone 5S. New feature: iMovie Theater: if you create movie on iPhone it's available across devices. GarageBand getting a new look, from 8 tracks to 16 tracks. New look and design on the Mac for GarageBand.
10:41: Lots of scenes of wildly high-tech CNC machining, robots at work, bead blasting, clean rooms, laser cutters, microscopes. Makes working in a factory seem cool.
10:38: Mac Pro will be assembled in the USA, and designed as usual in California. Video up now showing how Mac Pro was created.
10:37: It looks like something offloaded from the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance. In fact, Apple asked filmmaker Dean Devlin - "Makes real time 4K video editing a reality and will change the way I make movies." Stuart Price, producer for Lady Gaga and The Killers, said "it's blazing fast and shockingly quiet, the perfect computer for the recording studio." It's $2,999.
10:34: The flood of techno-speak is overwhelming, but boils down to Apple's desire to make the Pro the definitive pro desktop. "Up to 7 teraflops of power"...if you know what that means, Pro is your kinda tech baby.
10:33: Mac Pro details next. Looks like a monolith from "2001: A Space Odyssey."
10:31: MacBook Pro 15-inch: faster processing and faster graphics, 8 hours of battery life. Faster 801.11ac Wifi. Price drop here: from $2,199, down to $1,999.
10:28: Price drops: 13-inch MacBook is now $1,299, $200 less than before. Ships today.
10:27: Major updates for MacBooks. 13-inch MacBook Pro is now 3.46 pounds, and thinner, .71 inches thin. Has 4th Gen Intel chip, with Intel Iris Graphics, 90% faster than previous generation. 9 hours of battery life. "You can watch the 'Dark Knight' trilogy on one charge."
10:26: Phil Schiller takes the stage from Federighi to talk about MacBook updates.
10:26: Mavericks available today.
10:26: Federighi says that upgrading OS "will be as easy as downloading an app. The days of spending hundreds of dollars to get the most out of your Mac are gone. Today we are announcing Mavericks is free."
10:22: Interesting - with iMaps on the Mac, the Calendar becomes "geographically aware" and includes driving or walking directions to and from appointments.
10:19: Big laugh when Craig gets a message from his wife (code name: Hair Force Two) saying "untucked shirt, scandalous!" Federighi writes back: "Phil (Schiller) is my fashion guru."
10:17: New apps for the Mac - Maps with directions and flyover, and iBooks for Mac, including textbooks. Federighi now behind an iMac doing a demo: He pulls up iBooks (textbook on Mars) and essentially lays out a new study experience for today's schoolkids.
10:15: Craig Federighi on the mic now: talking about upgrades to Mac and OS X. Changes include power efficiency: "even 13 inch MacBook Air, if you install Mavericks you get up to an hour long web browsing on a single charge." Also improvements to memory. New Mavericks feature is "compressed memory," making space for new allocations - 6 GB of data fit in 4 GB of system RAM.
10:12: Mac talk next up from Cook. "Our competition is different, they're confused. They're trying to make PCs into tablets and tablets into PCs. We have a very clear direction and very ambitious goal. We believe deeply in this category (the Mac) and we're not slowing down on innovation.
10:08: Cook singing the praises of iOS7. Going over highlights like iTunes Radio, a billion songs listened to so far. App Store has "over 1,000,000 apps in the store...cummulative dowloads are at 60 downloads ...developers have earned more than $13 billion."
10:06: Cook says iPhone updates are next up, but first ...another video: Footage of how 9 million new iPhone 5cs and 5s's hit stores globally, lots of pumped up people waiting in lines on streets from Barcelona to New York.
10:02: Tim Cook strides out on stage in his jeans and black button down shirt. "I really love that video ...it does such an incredible job of talking about our values. It reflects the unique way Apple creates what we believe are the very best products in the world."
10 a.m.: Show starts. "How can anyone make anything perfect" on the screen, video playing. "Designing something requires focus." Sounds like a precursor to a Jony Ive voiceover.
9:58: Music playing - empty stage here at Moscone Center, huge white Apple logo floats in the middle of a black screen. The usual Apple show preamble.
Update at 9:55 a.m. PT: Apple's event starts in about five minutes.
Our original post
The company will likely reveal two iPad models: the standard version with a thinner, lighter design, faster processing chips and a better camera; and a new iPad Mini that will boast a sharper Retina display.
Apple's event arrives as the company continues to face pressure from rivals launching lower-cost tablets running on Google's Android mobile operating system. According to IDC, twice as many Android tablets were shipped during the second quarter of this year than Apple devices.
Apple is also expected to unveil a new Macbook laptop computer as well as details on the OS X Mavericks operating system for Macs.
USA TODAY will have live updates from the event from reporter Marco della Cava starting at 1 p.m. ET. Follow this post for the latest from the event.