Apple event set for Jan. 27

10.00am, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San-Francisco

Apple officially alerted the world Monday that it is ready to unveil its latest tinkerings — which many in the tech industry are betting will be a multimedia tablet computing slate — on the morning of Jan. 27.

The media hordes and analysts are being invited to San Francisco, where it is presumed company CEO Steve Jobs will show off the latest gadgets and services from Apple.

The invitation is as vague as it is inviting. “Come see our latest creation,” the mass e-mail read.

Although the company has officially declined to comment, industry insiders and analysts have been speculating for weeks that Apple will be entering the market for a lightweight, portable tablet computer, designed for consumers to interact with digital games, books, movies and other types of content.

It is expected to be priced in the $800 to $1,000 range. Numerous sources point to a March ship date for the new device.

Several companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Redmond-based Microsoft and Lenovo, already have tablets on the market, while Seattle-based Amazon.com and other companies are seeing favorable sales of e-readers, which are tabletlike devices designed specifically for reading books.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that HarperCollins Publishers is negotiating with Apple to make electronic books available for Apple’s tablet, a move that would pose a new challenge to Amazon.