Apple has invited selected media outlets to a special event January 27 at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena events center, sending speculation about a so-far unannounced and totally unconfirmed Apple tablet or digital slate device to new heights. As is typical for one of Apple’s special announcements, the invitations themselves offer almost no clue what Apple might unveil, offering only bright dribbles of color apparently meant to resemble spraypaint or paintball splatters, and reading only “Come see our latest creation.”
The date of the announcement falls in line with speculation building in the industry that Apple would unveil something new in late January; since the company withdrew from Macworld Expo, Apple no longer has to crunch to have products and keynotes ready to roll at right at the start of the new year. In recent years Apple has also indicated it prefers to hold its own media events rather than do announcements at trade shows, and believes it reaches larger numbers of consumers through its own retail stores than through industry events.
Of course, now the rumor mill about an Apple tablet will go into overdrive. It’s worth noting at this point that essentially no concrete details have been revealed about any Apple tablet device, what it might deliver, or what it’s capabilities might be…although media outlets have certainly been willing to fuel speculation and offer their own prognostications. For all anyone knows, Apple will be announcing new Macs, new iPhones, and/or new iPods. And, in fact, it’s about time for some new Macs hit Apple’s product line.
