By Invitation Only.

As you may have already heard, one week from today (January 27th) Apple will be hosting a product event in San Francisco, to which it distributed via email the above invitation to “Come see our latest creation.” Although many blogs have been talking about what could be coming next week, mainly discussing the possibility of an Apple Tablet, I think that this invitation, although cryptic, is a clear confirmation of all the tablet rumours.

Apple is a notorious creature of habit. They very frequently hold similar events at the same times each year to refresh or introduce a product. For example, around October/November, Apple usually refreshes their iMacs, in September their iPods, and in January/February their Macbooks. Now, I realize there have been exceptions to this rule, as we have seen mid year updates on Macbooks/Macbook Pros, but for the past few years this has generally been their pattern. So now, this January we have confirmation from the company that they will be unveiling something new.

Since we have established the Apple pattern for product launching, lets turn to the actual evidence- the invitation. We can tell from the tag line that this is not just going to be a product refresh, they have clearly created something new, or at least new-ish. What I mean by new-ish is that the concept or body of the device they are unveiling could be something we have never seen from Apple before, but it could deep down inside be similar to something they already make. This certainly leaves room for an Apple tablet, as the concept of a tablet Mac is certainly different in design and form than what Apple currently has in their Macbook line, however, deep down inside it is a computer. Now, this could also mean that they have created something non tablet as well. But lets continue to evaluate the evidence before we jump to any conclusions.

There is more to the tag line than just revealing that Apple has something new up it’s sleeve. I firmly believe that Apple always eludes to their product in the tag line directly. A good example of this would be last falls iPod event that was tagged “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it.” That tag line eluded to both the musical aspect of the event and the ‘roll’ was a double entendre also describing the video aspect of the new nanos (i.e. camera’s rolling). But back to next weeks event and the line “Come see our latest creation” which I believe is full of meaning, particularly in the word ‘see’. Now, although this could be taken directly on one level as the invitation to watch the unveiling, I think we have another double entendre situation and that this is to be taken as a clue that the device is going to be very visually oriented, maybe incorporating the aspects of an e-reader, touch screen or just faster graphics. So what sorts of Apple products are visually oriented? Well, Apple made a big fuss over perfecting the screen of their iMacs, and the Macbook line has great graphics and ever increasing screen quality. More so than any other product of Apple’s, their Mac line is very visually oriented. Whatever they are releasing is clearly going to be a part of Apple’s long tradition to enhance user experience through an ever expanding notion of the graphic user interface. The last few times we saw Apple move in this direction the iPhone’s graphic touch interface was developed, the Mac line was given a major graphics boost and finally, the screens of all of their products went full glass. Perhaps someone else could look at this chain of events and say they have nothing to do with next Wednesday’s event, but I think Apple has been in the business of expanding the visual interface of computers since the very beginning and when they say ‘see’ they really mean ‘see.’

The final piece of evidence we have about this event is the invitation graphic. I know some believe it to be inconclusive, but I believe it is giving us a great visual clue as to what is going to be coming next week out of Cupertino. To me, this image has the silhouette of a macbook and out of a multi colored background (eluding to the visuals of the device again) comes a glowing Apple. What does the multi colored background have to do with anything, you might be thinking? Well, Apple likes to use those paint splashes when it is alluding to device colors, as we have seen with the 4th generation Nano line which was represented by dripping paint, so perhaps this device incorporates a portable audio, but what I think they are hinting at with this image is touch screen capabilities. Why? Think finger painting. I know it seems puerile, but from the standpoint of Apple and the font of irony which is their marketing, what would be more ironic than a touch screen or tablet computer being compared to a child finger painting. I mean, technically, you could do so with a touch screen Mac and because it is digital it would be mess free!

Jumping to conclusions.

Honestly, I think that this visual evidence from their invitation paired with what we know Apple likes to do historically, there is a good chance this event is going to reveal a touch based computer. Will it be a tablet? Perhaps. If we listen to the rumor mill we might get our expectations crushed come next week just like we have for the past two years since all these rumors have become a business in and of themselves. So I am just going to make the safe bet right now and say Apple will be introducing a touch screen device. Whether it be a Macbook with a touch screen, or a tablet Mac or even an enlarged iPod touch, I think all the signs point to touch screen with some great graphics. Stay tuned to find out!