Tim Cook

CEO Tim Cook reportedly held an all-hands Town Hall meeting last week to address the state of the Apple with employees. Subjects covered were said to include employee perks, production from supply chain to sales, the retail stores, the competitive landscape with Google's Android, and opportunities in China. 9to5Mac's ace reported, Mark Gurman, has a full rundown. Here's a highlight from the competitive part:

Just like last year, following another record-breaking -- if not Wall Street pleasing -- set of quarterly results, Apple's CEO Tim Cook sent out a congratulatory email to everyone on the team, and announced that they'd be rallying for a Town Hall meeting today at 10am PST/1pm EST. Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac scored a copy, here's the intro:

In response to a question asked during Apple's Q1 2013 conference call, Tim Cook once again re-iterated Apple's long-held belief that they'd rather cannibalize their own existing product lines with new product lines than risk a competitor eating into their business. The only twist to the repartee this time was the iPad mini, and what if any affect it might have had on full-sized iPad sales.

Microsoft has announced pricing and availability for their Surface Pro tablet/laptop hybrid -- tabtop? laplet? -- and it's going to hit on February 9 and start at $899. Unlike the rather disappointing Surface RT -- whatever that stands for? -- the Surface Pro runs full-on Windows 8 and includes an Intel Core i5 processor and the fans to go with it. Our own Daniel Rubino from Windows Phone Central lays it out: