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It was rumored last year that Apple will hold an educational event in New York and the Cupertino-based company confirmed the rumors today, by sending the invitations to journalists. As you can read on the invitation, Apple will make an educational announcement.

Apple is set to make an important announcement towards the end of the month. Ever since the event was first announced, the rumors have started to hit the web. Some said that Apple is preparing a new smart TV, others that two new iPads are on their way. All the web blogs are quoting sources inside the company and they are all talking about new product launches. Since the Apple event is described as “important, but not large scale,” it is very likely to be an event related to a media announcement.

Sources say that Eddy Cue, Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Softwares and Services will attend the event. He is in charge with managing several Apple services, like iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, iAd and iCloud. About a year ago it was the last time when Eddy Cue presented an Apple, when the Cupertino-based company launched The Daily, News Corp’s online magazine.

Apple already sent the invitations for the event that will take place in New York, and, just it was previously rumored, it’s not a launch event, thus we won’t be seeing a new Mac, iPad nor any other hardware product. The Cupertino-based company invites us to join them for an educational announcement.

The rumors previous to this announcement said that Apple might be planning a media announcement. Considering that Apple already owns a big share of the music, movies and TV shows online distribution market, the company’s interest for a new market sounded at least intriguing.

Eddy Cue’s presence to the event was the source for the rumors, as he is the one responsible within the company for everything that means digital distrubution:  iTunes Store, AppStore, iBookstore, iAds and iCloud.

A new feature was introduced for the iDevices along with the launch of iOS 5.0: the Newsstand. The Newsstand is meant to help you organize the online magazines you buy from the integrated store. Apparently this is the new market Apple wants to penetrate, and if you have a look at how things are going, they might even succeed. Steve Jobs himself suggested that Apple wants to penetrate the e-book market, in his biography, edited by Walter Isaacson.

The invitation for the New York event Apple sent to journalists is brief: “Join us for an educational announcement in the Big Apple.” Most of the tech blogs say that the event scheduled for next week will represent Apple’s attempt to strengthen iBooks’ position on the e-books market. The Cupertino giant gave no further information, except that the event is scheduled for January 19th and it takes place at The Guggenheim Museum in New York.

On the other hand, back on January 3rd, Clayton Morris, co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend on Fox News Channel, said that iTunes U will be the center piece of the Apple event, an educational platform based on iTunes store. This theory is underpinned by the fact that Apple mentioned that the education is the event’s theme.

The Apple events are pretty rare and they are usually held to present products like iPad, iPhone or iTunes upgrades. But this one will be different. Rumor has it that Apple might launch a series of iPad-dedicated tetbooks, or even a new iPad tablet for students. The Apple event on January 19th is the first since Tim Cook launched the new iPhone 4S in October last year.