Apple has confirmed a rumored January 27 special event by sending out invitations to select media outlets. The event will take place at 10am Pacific Time on Wednesday, January 27 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The invitation, as usual, is nonspecific as to what will be introduced, though there are subtle hints that indicate that it will be related to creative activities.

Apple has long been expected to introduce an oft-rumored Apple tablet sometime this month, with buzz ramping up over the last several weeks that an event would occur either on the 26th or 27th of January. That's about the only semi-solid piece of information about the Apple tablet, though—other rumors have included the possibility of Verizon being involved, a new SDK and tablet "simulator" for developers, "unexpected" UI features, and more. Some expect the tablet to be heavily aimed at promoting the publishing industry and e-books, though others suspect that it will be more geared towards visual artists and music/video consumption.

We'll soon find out which rumors were on track and which weren't—assuming this is a tablet announcement, that is. The invitation reads "Come see our latest creation" and features colorful paint splatters. With Apple supposedly telling some developers to prepare their App Store offerings for a higher-resolution screen demo, it will undoubtedly be an exciting event for both users and developers alike.

We'll be there covering it live, so tune in to Ars to get all the details as they're happening.