There's less than a week to go until Apple's planned "press event"-- though you'd never guess that fact by digging through Apple's web site. For our part, we were unable to find a single mention of the shindig at Apple.com, which implies to us that either Apple's trying to keep things calm before the storm, or the web elves are too busy playing Escape From Monkey Island to post an announcement. We're betting on the former scenario (though the latter isn't without a certain gleeful charm).

Our interpretation of the vaguely disturbing silence blaring from One Infinite Loop right now is that Steve and company are hoping to launch a sneak attack this Tuesday; by keeping quiet about the fact that there even is a press event just around the corner, maybe they hope to quell most of the attendant speculation, at least among the less Mac-frenzied populace. Of course, that just leads overexuberant fans like us to assume that there must be something really big in the works. Really, really big. And we're not so sure that a new iBook-- even one that heralds Apple's return to the subnotebook market-- would qualify.

For example, MacSlash claims that Apple has "confirmed" the Mayday event (though no source or link is listed) and that it will be taking place at the Flint Center at DeAnza College. If you're reasonably up on your Apple history, you probably recall that the Flint Center has been the site of many Apple turning points over the years-- most notably the introduction of the original Macintosh in 1984, the unveiling of the original iMac in 1998, the announcement of the Power Mac G3 and the online build-to-order Apple Store in 1997, and the advent of iMovie in 1999. All of those announcements were huge, and most of them were surprises-- and not just to the press and the average populace. Even the die-hard Apple-watchers did a triple-take when the iMac was unveiled.

So are we in for a mammoth surprise come Tuesday? It's true that Apple's own retail stores would represent a major paradigm shift on par with the 1997 debut of the direct-sales Apple Store, so an announcement like that would almost certainly justify a Flint Center event. Still, even your grandmother and her cat know that Apple's going retail, and given Steve's love for flashy surprises, we can't help but suspect that he's got something else up his sleeve. If so, here's hoping that it's something that none of us sees coming.