Google isn’t going to take this whole Apple iPad thing lying down. Problem is, Google’s got nothing physical to counter Apple’s big marketing splash. That doesn’t mean Google can’t steal some of Apple’s thunder, and at the same time soften the iPad’s market position. All Google needs to do is suggest there’s something better down the road--if you just wait. And what could be better than a tablet PC running on Chrome OS?

What Google is offering are “visual explorations”. There isn’t a real product, or even a prototype, so there’s nothing concrete to work from. But these visualizations do offer some hints of what a future Chrome OS tablet might be like. Google says some of the possibilities are: “keyboard interaction with the screen”, “launchers as an overlay”, “contextual actions triggered via dwell”, “zooming UI for multiple tabs”, and “creating multiple browsers on screen using a launcher”. And, the video presentation that accompanies the visualizations suggests multi-tasking. (Take that iPad!)

Gearlog says the first Chrome OS-based tablets, from third-party hardware manufacturers, are expected at the end of this year. It will be interesting to see how close they come to these visualizations.

Take your pick: astromancy, pendulum reading, spirit boards, tasseography, cartomancy, crystallomancy, or even cheiromancy. It all amounts to the same thing: making stuff up about the future based on the thinnest (if any) real world information. Now center stage in the world of ‘let’s pretend’ is speculation about a possible Google Chrome OS netbook, produced by none other than Google.

What’s the basis for this projection? The obligatory unnamed sources, a vague posting on the company web site, and an unsubstantiated report of a request-for-proposal being issued to an unidentified manufacturer. Wave a handful of bones over the mix and all signs point toward Google releasing something in time for the 2010 holiday season.

Anything concrete, like actual specifications? Sure, it will have an ATOM processor, unless something else is used, like Nvidia’s Tegra. Memory and hard drive? Naturally. And mobile enabled? You bet, with it more than likely tied to a carrier (or two) with a subsidy for subscribers. It’s the stuff of dreams.

Making things up about the future doesn’t mean it won’t happen. But, just as with Bigfoot or UFOs, I’ll reserve my excitement until something tangible is trotted out.