Speculation continues to build around the hotly anticipated announcement of the new Apple tablet.

Imagine if Steve Jobs & Co. are NOT intending to announce the new product - man, there would be many furrowed brows around Apple HQ right now, that's for sure!

If there is no announcement, the fall-out will reverberate around the world. Talk about a massive let-down for Apple fans who have talked themselves into a frenzy over the so-called "iPhone on steroids".

According to MacDailyNews.com:

"Later this month, we all might get a glimpse of that future. According to The Financial Times, Apple has rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and is expected to make a major product announcement on Tuesday, Jan. 26, where many have speculated that some version of the Apple tablet will be unveiled..."

Fever Pitch

Apple's strategy of 'keeping mum' about new product releases has a tendency to fuel buzz beyond fever pitch levels.

When the strategy works, it works incredibly well! If the product lives up to expectations like the iPhone did, the brand's reputation soars.

Steve Jobs also likes to surprise the market with out-of-the-blue new products and features. That too - borne out of Apple's preferred 'secrecy' strategy - is an effective tactic.

If the pundits are wrong, however, and the new product fails to live up to the hype, the brand has to wear more flak than most because market expectations have been so high.

It's a risky strategy and one that only a company like Apple, which consistently exceeds expectations with its products, can get away with.

For most other companies operating in 'high interest' consumer categories, however, perhaps the strategy of drip-feeding details to the media and other influencers such as bloggers, in the run-up to new product launches, is a better way to go. Cars, books, films, fashion - these are just some of the categories where the drip-feed strategy can be very effective.