Following a stellar first quarter which saw net income soar to $3.38 billion or $3.67 a share from $2.26 billion a year earlier, Steve Jobs shifted everyone’s attention to a new product to be unveiled tomorrow.  During the first quarter, Apple proved its resilience by selling a record 8.7 million iPhones and 3.36 million Macs in the holiday shopping season. In anticipation of the new product Jobs said, “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”

According to Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, the new product is expected to create a transition, with technologies that none of their competitors are able to match. Thus, it’s obvious that this time it’s not going to be a revision of the company’s pipeline.  Rumors suggest that Apple’s forthcoming tablet Mac will feature a 10-inch touch-screen display with 3G, GPS, Bluetooth, and will deliver music, movies, web pages, and other content. The tablet will represent a new paradigm in the way people read digital books as it is luring publishers with more interactive features that Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s electronic reader lack such as color photos, videos, reviews and author interviews.

Hearst Corp., McGraw-Hill Cos, and Hachette Book Group have already expressed interests and held cooperation talks with Apple. While everyone is hyped in anticipation of Apple’s new product, the real issue is that there is no real demand for tablets per se. Will this one really be different? With all the momentum building into the stock in the past couple of days, will Apple deliver a blow and drive the stock from its current levels or will it be “buy the rumor and sell the fact”?