Apple January Event: Publishing, iBooks Announcement May Come This Month In New York

What, oh what, is the ever mysterious Apple planning for the end of this month?

Kara Swisher of All Things Digital broke the news that Apple is reportedly planning an event for January. It's not what you're thinking: Swisher emphasized that the event would not feature the unveiling of the iPad 3, the next-gen tablet that has long been rumored for a release some time between February and April 2012. Also off the table is any kind of announcement surrounding Apple's television, the much-hyped product, teased by Steve Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson in several interviews, that will supposedly revolutionize TVs with its reported radical new interface and potential integration with voice assistant Siri.

No, neither the so-called "iTV" nor the iPad 3 are the subject of January's event, per Swisher. Instead, according to TechCrunch's Alexia Tsotsis, the stars of the event at month's end will be iBooks and book publishing.

From Tsotsis' post, on our Aol sister site TechCrunch:

According to the source the event will not involve any hardware at all and instead will focus on publishing and eBooks (sold through Apple’s iBooks platform) rather than iAds. Attendance will also be more publishing industry-oriented than consumer-focused.

Past that, details remain scant, but several ideas that have been floated in the blogosphere.

Apple blog TUAW is hoping that iBooks will become available to read on Mac laptops and desktops; Mac Rumors wonders whether Apple might begin selling textbooks, as Jobs told his biographer Isaacson he hoped to revolutionize the textbook industry; and another Apple site, TiPb, is wishing for a better selection of iBooks, one that could compete with Amazon's selection for the Kindle (per the two companies, Amazon has over a million titles, while Apple has over 700,000). A partnership with Barnes & Noble, a once-rumored acquisition target for Apple, could help with the latter; however, given B&N's own hardware (including the recently released NOOK Tablet), this seems unlikely.

Apple, as is its wont, is staying quiet, and has not responded to a request for comment nor confirmed that it is holding any kind of event in New York City this January. We'll keep you updated as details emerge.

What do you think Apple is planning for this mysterious event? Do you think there will be one at all? Let us know in the comments.

Check out the slideshow (below) for a look at the worst Apple rumors from 2011.

Comments

[Channa]

07:21 AM on 01/05/2012

It will be the unveiling of Jobs 2.0

[Ppenguinator]

05:34 PM on 01/04/2012

I suspect they'll announce that Jobs' death was nothing more than a publicity stunt, then that their plan to iConquer the world is halfway to completion.

[aphextwin07]

01:59 PM on 01/04/2012

mysterious? snoozefest.

[Tanker10a]

06:16 AM on 01/04/2012

Broke what story? Please!

[John McCasland]

01:43 AM on 01/04/2012

Don't worry so much about this. I'm sure an Apple engineer will forget his new iPhone with the data in a bar and a magazine will "find" it and report to us in no time.

[Suma Dartson]

09:32 PM on 01/03/2012

I believe it will be a new interactive eBook reader integrated within iBooks - there were some guys down in Washington DC working exclusively on an Apple-based server for analyzing book text and I read somewhere that their pending launch of an integrated eBook service (zirdland.com) was put on-hold pending some advances in the delivery technology, which may be what Apple is announcing.

[Jack Durango]

07:54 PM on 01/03/2012

Death to Kara Swisher!

[MiddleWestern]

07:22 PM on 01/03/2012

Unfortunately for Apple, I think they burned all of the public's goodwill with the last iPhone event. I used to drool over the next Apple product, now I don't pay attention as much (although admittedly I just read this article). I also find myself comparing my 4S to a lot of Android devices now too, which never used to happen.

[NHBill]

05:53 PM on 01/03/2012

Rational technophiles will enjoy this well-written, if admittedly biased, look at OS X and the future.

"The next ten years of Mac OS X

Apple celebrated three ten year anniversaries in 2011, making 2012 its first full year in its second decade of Mac OS X development, iPod devices and iTunes, and its retail operations, even as the company takes on new business categories ranging from iAd to iCloud to Siri. Here, in part one, is a look at where the company is headed for its next decade of Mac OS X. "

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/01/03/the_next_ten_years_of_mac_os_x.html

[surfandshop]

05:45 PM on 01/03/2012

What a disappointing story. I thought maybe Steve Jobs would be resurected, raised from the dead and once again save our planet...

[TheWorldCommunity]

05:27 PM on 01/03/2012

ANOTHER DAY AND YET ANOTHER APPLE NON-STORY ON THE FRONT PAGE!

HP HAS BECOME APPLE'S W.H.O.R.E!

[blackstarpictures]

07:01 PM on 01/03/2012

Using all Caps is very 90ish of you. If you want to be listened to try typing like an adult.

[TheWorldCommunity]

07:09 PM on 01/03/2012

COMMENTING ON FORM MEANS YOU ARE EMPTY OF CONTENT.

[Etropalld]

05:26 PM on 01/03/2012

It's surely to announce that Apple has copyrighted the word "Book" or that they have patented the act of reading.

[xardvar]

05:07 PM on 01/03/2012

I predict apple is about to reveal that they successfully downloaded all of steven jobs memories into a computer and his personality will now be automatically be part of the new apple i-pad software.

[Flight]

04:53 PM on 01/03/2012

I guess Apple now wants to try and shut down Amazon's Kindle biz, huh?

[NHBill]

04:40 PM on 01/03/2012

Here is some actual tech news.

If Android is so hot, why has Java ME overtaken it?

Ranked by Internet market share -- rather than unit sales -- Google is now No. 3

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/01/if-android-is-so-hot-why-has-java-me-overtaken-it/

[jgeurian21]

05:01 PM on 01/03/2012

Probably because Java ME is on set-top-boxes, internet connected TVs, and is also the OS of choice for feature phones or dumb phones which out sell smart phones globally. Probably a sign that in a down global economy that people cut back and instead of buying hugely expensive phones they buy feature phones. Of course it is odd that in the graph you posted it shows Apple lost 10%+ market share in the span of 3 months. Man, what happened to Apple and iOS in those 2 months for such a huge drop?

[NHBill]

05:18 PM on 01/03/2012

Lot's of fun reading on the original source page.

http://www.netmarketshare.com/

[jgeurian21]

05:01 PM on 01/03/2012

Oh also Java ME is on a slew of things whereas Android is only on cellphones and tablets.

[NHBill]

05:57 PM on 01/03/2012

But with all the Market Share (far greater than Apple reportedly) where are the Android users online??

All I can think of is there must be an awful lot of phones still in there boxes for Android to have less than half the online activity of iOS.