Late yesterday morning, Apple announced that is hosting an event on September 9, 2014 at the Flint Center in Cupertino. My first reaction was that we finally have official confirmation of the date on which I expect Apple to debut the iPhone 6. That was quickly followed by my second reaction, which was that it seems pretty special for Apple to host the event at the Flint Center — the only time I could remember Apple doing so was when Steve Jobs first debuted the Macintosh in January of 1984. (Jim Dalrymple of The Loop subsequently posted that Apple also used it in 1998 and 1999, events were Steve Jobs announced the first iMacs.) When Apple has smaller announcements (e.g., the iPhone 4s, the iPhone 5s), it typically uses the Town Hall located on Apple’s campus, which seats 301 people. For a larger announcement, such as the iPhone 5, Apple typically uses the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, which seats 755 people. The Flint Center seats 2,400 people, significantly more than those other venues. And to get even more space, that post from Dalrymple also reveals that Apple is right now constructing an additional building next to the Flint Center to use for this announcement.

Why does Apple need so much additional space, and why pick a venue so significant in Apple history? Is the iPhone 6 going to be so special that Apple needs three times the space that it could get at Yerba Buena? I suspect the answer is that in addition to showing off the new iPhone, Apple also plans to debut on September 9th its long-rumored wearable device — which I presume will be called the iWatch. I can imagine it being touted as the ultimate accessory for an iPhone. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong, but I am certainly excited to see what Apple has in store for us on September 9; it should be a memorable announcement. And now, the rest of the news of note from this past week:

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