Aug 12, 2011 07:05 GMT  ·  By

A Japanese source that has previously pinpointed Apple product announcements with accuracy claims to have learned of a special Apple event scheduled for September 7th (the report said September 8th for Japan time), with the highly anticipated iPhone 5 being the centerpiece of the show.

The report in question was picked up by rumor site MacRumors which “confirmed” with Japanese site Kodawarisan that the September 7 date was not a guess.

Rather, the intel came from “a source in the know”, according to the Mac-centric site reporting heavily on rumors and speculation.

To further add credibility to the Japanese report, they note that Kodawarisan correctly pinpointed the launch date of a new Mac mini computer in 2009.

However, it should be worth noting that Apple generally invests few resources in keeping Macintosh upgrades a secret.

Most of the times, the general public learns of their upcoming availability through part numbers moving back and forth between the assembly lines, retailers, and even Apple’s own outlets.

The iPhone, however, is a different thing altogether. Apple engineers may accidentally forget a prototype unit on a bar stool from time to time, but it’s the company’s highly-enforced policy to keep the iPhone business under the tightest wraps possible.

It is this fact alone that leads us to believe Apple will be very careful not to leak its iPhone 5 announcement plans until the few days leading up to the actual event.

Then again, the Cupertino company does have to make preparations ahead of time.

The upcoming Apple event will not only feature an iPhone announcement, but also an iCloud announcement, and perhaps will see some new iPods debut as well.

iOS 5 will also be a big part of the show.

If there’s one thing that can confirm an Apple event, it’s the invitations Apple sends to the media every year.

We’ll wait for those to start flying around and then we’ll get your hopes up in a proper manner.