www.apple.com/ipod/start

As iPad commanded the technology world’s attention, Google continued working quietly on tablet computer software that could run rivals to Apple’s latest creation. 

“You may have seen our Chrome OS tablet concepts from last Monday; in the video, some floating hands interact with a touch surface,” Google Chrome lead designer Glen Murphy wrote in a personal blog post.

“We only used one hand image instead of showing the full range of gestures, but I did make a larger set.”

The website focused on Chrome OS software and did not indicate whether Google would make its own tablet or opt to let others tend to the hardware.

Google’s mobile Android software is built into iPhone competitors, including the Internet firm’s own Nexus One smartphone released in January.

Pictures of what a Google tablet might look like were featured at a Chromium developers web page on Tuesday along with talk of how touchscreen controls could work based on the Internet titan’s Chrome computer operating system.

The images were posted online two days before the January 27 event at which Apple unveiled an iPad tablet computer that will begin shipping worldwide in March.

Google made images and video of Google tablet gesture control capabilities available online for developers to consider.

The “concept user interface under development” could signal another front on which Google will battle with Apple, which uses its own custom software in the iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Macintosh computers.

“It’s got to be new iPods. That’s 100 percent certain,” Needham & Co analyst Charles Wolf said. “The only question I cannot answer is whether they will also do new MacBooks.”

Apple shares fell $3.34, or 2 percent, to $166.19 on Tuesday.

Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andrew Hargreaves said the stock fall was likely due to bearish broad sentiment, rather than any disappointment related to the invitation. However, he expects any changes to the iPod to be incremental.

“I’m not expecting anything revolutionary,” he said.

Apple’s iPod line needs to be refreshed and the price of its iPod Touch models need to be cut because they have a higher starting price than its iPhone, which includes a mobile phone and other features not included in the device, said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu.

The Internet-ready iPod touch starts at $299 in the United States, compared with $199 for the iPhone.

“Pricing needs to be adjusted downward toward market conditions. We are in a tougher economy. That’s what makes most sense,” Wu said.

Analysts said they still expect Cupertino, California-based Apple to refresh its MacBook notebook PCs soon.

Both Wolf and Hargreaves expect new MacBooks to be announced in the coming weeks, if not on Tuesday.

In July, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a statement the company was working on several new products to launch in the coming months, but executives declined to give details.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is expected to unveil new iPod music players — and possibly price cuts — at a media event next Tuesday but may not launch a long-awaited update to its MacBook laptop computers until a later date.

Apple, which also makes iPhone mobile devices, e-mailed reporters an invitation to a September 9 event entitled “Let’s Rock,” which has an image of a man jumping in the air while listening to an iPod, with the words “playing soon.”

No further details were available from the company, which often sends provocative invitations to events that end up being product launches. Creating an allure around its brand has only helped drive Apple’s market capitalization above Google Inc (GOOG.O), despite fears about the weak U.S. economy, which is slowing consumer purchases.