<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px; "><h3 class="entry_header smalltoppad" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.25em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2009/12/exclusive-apple-to-host-event-in-january/">http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2009/12/exclusive-apple-to-host-event-in-january/</a></span></font></h3><h3 class="entry_header smalltoppad" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.25em; font-size: 29px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4" style="font-size: 25px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 22px; ">Exclusive: Apple to host event in January</span></font></h3><h2 class="date_header smalltoppad" style="margin-top: 0.6em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 18px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; color: black; font-weight: normal; "><span class="topdate" style="padding-right: 6px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">December 23, 2009 8:18pm</span></font></span><div class="author_name" style="display: inline; "><a href="http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/author/davidgelles/" style="color: rgb(71, 129, 170); text-decoration: none; "><span class="author_title"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">by David Gelles</span></font></span></a></div></h2><div class="entry"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Apple has something big up its sleeve for next month.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">The company has rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for several days in late January, according to people familiar with the plans.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Apple is expected to use the venue to make a major product announcement on Tuesday, January 26th. Both YBCA and Apple declined to comment.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">The company most recently </span></font><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c0a7a8b6-548b-11de-a58d-00144feabdc0.html" style="color: rgb(71, 129, 170); text-decoration: none; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">used the YBCA stage in September</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">, when chief executive Steve Jobs made his first public appearance after a medical leave and showed off new iPods.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span id="more-18916"></span></span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Speculation that Apple is preparing to introduce a new tablet style computer has been building all year, and </span></font><a href="http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/12/23/apple-tablet-definitely-coming-in-7-size/" style="color: rgb(71, 129, 170); text-decoration: none; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">other reports now suggest the tablet will make its debut in January</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today speculated that an event was imminent. “We believe there is a 75 per cent likelihood that Apple will have an event in January and a 50 per cent chance that it will be held to launch the Apple Tablet,” he wrote in a new research note. “If Apple announced the Tablet in January, it would likely ship later in the March quarter.”</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">It is still unclear exactly what an Apple tablet would include, but most observers expect a sort of large-scale iPhone that has additional features for viewing video and reading books and magazines.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Yesterday we reported that </span></font><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/de0956cc-ef2f-11de-86c4-00144feab49a.html" style="color: rgb(71, 129, 170); text-decoration: none; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Apple is working to solidify a new round of content deals with TV studios</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">. Meanwhile, </span></font><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/81139c80-e367-11de-8d36-00144feab49a.html" style="color: rgb(71, 129, 170); text-decoration: none; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">publishers have been working on new versions of digital magazines</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> that would be viewed on touch screen computers.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Apple has explored making tablet style devices for years, only to back off. The company also has a history of scrapping products very close to their scheduled launch dates.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">But momentum around the tablet has been building solidly. And Apple has refreshed its iPhone, iPod and computer lines within the last year, another indication that the January announcement will be for a new product.</span></font></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 43px;"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Lucida Grande'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span></font></span></div></div></span>
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