• Fox News et al., Thursday, December 31, 2009 10:51 AM

Forget all this Nexus One nonsense. Apple would like you to know it has much more than any mere phone in store. It is offering a life-changing experience.

Sources within the Cupertino company is saying it will be ready to announce its tablet device in January and the blogosphere, predictably, is abuzz.

Sources inside Apple have confirmed a "big" event in January. And you can bet it won't be a moderate improvement to the iPhone. Mashable speculates that the Mac-World team will be none-too-happy about the January 26 announcement, since it was told by Apple that the company would not participate in the expo, because preparing a presentation over the holidays is just too taxing.

In Asia, former president of Google China Kaifu Lee, who claims to have seen the device, says it looks like a big iPhone. Of course he could have made that up after reading any one of the reports over the past six months.

And Business Week, calling the forthcoming device the Jesus Tablet, says Apple's new gambit will herald the return of print, and will be embraced by publishers: "Expect to see publishers launch visually stunning versions of their magazines with swooping typography, video insets, CNN iReporter-style news uploads, social media overlays-whatever it takes to make you think you're seeing a magazine or newspaper like never before, so much so you'll even want to pay for it."

So an April date for the release makes sense, since it's more of an Easter-resurrection type of deal than a Christmas-birth sort of thing.

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