Google tailoring iPad rival

San Francisco - 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.

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.

"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."

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.

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.

- AFP