The iPad Pro is Apple?s answer to the quickly growing ? albeit still small ? sub-segment of mobile devices that is a hybrid of the power of a laptop with the portability of a tablet. While a number of makers of professional software have come out with apps for the iPad Pro ? which launched in September ? there have not been a lot of apps yet from more consumer-oriented brands. 

?The app is specifically designed for the large 12.9-inch Retina display,? said Heidi Johnson, global product lead for foundational applications at Bloomberg. ?We made high resolution graphical enhancements to real-time data streaming, charts and graphs, ticking data, pricing functionality and Bloomberg TV viewing.?

Besides being designed for the iPad Pro?s large Retina display, there are several other ways the app was designed to take advantage of the device?s unique capabilities.

The app also includes functionality built around the Apple Pencil so that users can annotate charts, notes and research documents and then share with individuals and teams through the message function.

Another key feature is Split View capabilities, enabling users to view additional Bloomberg features and apps side-by-side and still be able to interact with content in both. 

The app also offers support for Picture-in-Picture capabilities, a new iOS 9 feature enabling users to continue to work while viewing Bloomberg TV in a moveable, resizable window that floats over other apps on the screen. 

The new app comes as Bloomberg continues to see significant increases in year-over-year mobile adoption among its customers. 

Bloomberg first launched the Professional iPad app in 2010. The app delivers customized price and news alerts, monitors events and markets, with users able to view charts, review securities and send and receive messages. 

While tablet sales overall are slowing, hybrid devices such as the Apple iPad Pro are growing, in part because of their appeal to enterprise and professional customers (see story). 

However, Apple faces a challenge with attracting developers to iPad Pro. The issue is that because the iPad Pro promises desktop capabilities but is running on mobile software, developers of professional software are wary of putting apps in the Apple App Store where they might not be able to charge as much as they have in the past for desktop software. 

?Bloomberg has been providing business and financial news and information to Apple customers ever since the first iPhone and iPad were released,? Ms. Johnson said. 

?More than 70 percent of all Bloomberg Professional service customers who access the service via mobile do so on Apple products,? she said. 

?As we continue to see a year-over-year increase of Bloomberg Terminal users on mobile, it is important for us to optimize the Bloomberg experience as new operating systems and devices are released into the market.?