Secret Apple store events planned for May 19th Tenth Anniversary?

It’s likely a date that only the most die-hard of Apple fanboys and fangirls have in their diaries, but May 19th 2011 is the tenth anniversary of the opening of the first batch of Apple retail stores. May moons ago the Cupertino giants opened their first outlets in McLean, Virginia and Glendale, California, and now, according to BGR, Apple are planning a series of special events to mark the occassion.

Stores are said to have received “hardware to install” and password protected training programs to give to staff, who have had to agree to sign NDAs on the nature of the day’s festivities.

So what have Apple got planned then? Hardware launcehs are unlikely; the iPad 3 is wishful thinking, and we’re still expecting a September launch for the iPhone 5. Mac OS X Lion was slated for a summer release though, and there’s always the looming rumour of the “iCloud” launch, though an instore blowout for what seems essentially to be a digital service seems a little unusual. There’s also rumours of a mssive Apple Store sale, which I personally would welcome more than any of the above at the moment.

All will be revealed on Thursday, if there’s anything to reveal at all, of course…