Sources close to Apple have toldAppleInsiderthat retail employees are being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements ahead of an important meeting held later in the week, notifying staff of Apple’s plans for a major product launch. Any staff not wanting to sign the non-disclosure forms would be omitted from the meeting, after it was pushed back a week with no reasons indicated. Store meetings are typically held after closing on a Sunday, according to ifoAppleStore, with this meeting expected to detail – at least in part – the new range of Apple Macbook’s which have already surfaced onthird-party retailer websites....

Apple’s iPad 2 got off to a superb start, selling out almost instantly in the U.S on March 11, resulting in delivery dates for future orders being extended as far as four weeks from purchase. This immediately left analysts and prospective iPad buyers outside the U.S – who have had to wait until March 25 to buy their devices – wondering if international launch dates would still be adhered to, and until now Apple has remained silent on the matter....

A host ofmessagesfrom iOS developers began flooding Twitter Monday morning that seemed to indicate that Apple was stepping forward to assist the developers that have been affected by thethreats of litigationfrompatent company Lodsys. That has now beenconfirmedby The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple as he states that Apple has confirmed that all iOS developers are already licensed for Lodsys patents. Apparently a letter was sent to Lodsys on monday by Apple asking that the company withdraw letters sent to app developers demanding additional licensing fees....

Following the opening of pre-orders for the newiPhone 4S on October 7, Apple hastoday announcedit has sold over 1 million units of its new smartphone in 24 hours, smashing its previous single day pre-order record held by the iPhone 4, with 600,000 units. Customers in the U.S, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and Japan were able to preorder the device, with mobile operators in the respective countries also opening up preorders on October 7....

Despite some cool product drops,last week’s Apple Eventwas really about the notch. If you’ve been living under a rock (oh, how I envy you), Apple announced its revamped MacBook Pro range on Monday. Overall, these appear to be excellent machines, but there was one major drawback:the display now has a notch. Yes,an actual notch.Like the damn iPhone. Unsurprisingly,this caused a bit of an uproar. People aren’t too happy about their screen space being violated this way....