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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple may be making a comeback to a technology convention held in January. No, not Macworld (which will be held in February in 2010), but instead, the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES. Macworld ‘09 was Apple’s last, leaving investors, consumers, reporters and bloggers alike wondering if Apple was permanently abandoning communicating information through the convention platform. CEA (the group that puts on CES) is looking to rebound from a 20% decrease in attendance at CES 2009 compared to the previous year. Its chief executive Gary Shapirio may have a trick up his sleeve to help the show out.

At a dinner with journalists this week in San Francisco, CEA’s Shapiro was asked whether he’s invited Jobs, who recently returned from medical leave, to keynote the show. Yes, Jobs has been asked, but nobody from Apple has gotten back to him, Shapiro said.

(I’ll pause as Apple fanboys collectively gasp.)

Should this hold true, a frailer-than-before Jobs will make his return to the keynote stage for the first time since 2008, barring any appearances in the remainder of 2009.  Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer and Intel’s Paul Otellini have already said they will conduct keynote presentations at CES, but if rumors turn into reality, Jobs will be there to steal the show.

However, gdgt’s Ryan Block, in retort to the WSJ report, has stated:

At no point did Gary even remotely imply that Apple would be present at a future CES—let alone state flatly that Apple “will be there” in 2010. In fact, at one point, someone asked if, hypothetically, Apple did want to attend CES, whether the CEA could accommodate them. Gary said flatly that if pressed, they might be able to come up with a small 2,000 square foot booth, but they couldn’t do anything, say, Microsoft-sized on such short notice.

Do you think Jobs will make a return to the keynote stage, or are Steve’s keynote days behind him?

Read [Engadget]