In fact, it could be argued that public confirmation of Jobs’s health since his return to the company was truly the most significant announcement of the day. As Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt quipped in a research note issued after the event, “Aside from a lack of a camera on the iPod Touch, everything announced was generally in line with expectations, although it all tends to sound much more revolutionary when Steve Jobs is spinning the story. It was clearly a positive to see him back on stage.”

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster felt similarly: “There was some debate over whether Steve Jobs would deliver the presentation at [the] event,” he said in a note to clients. “He did, and we see this as a sign that he has returned to work at near-full capacity following his health-related leave of absence. We continue to believe he is the primary spokesman and active leader of Apple.”

Munster went on to note that the event was otherwise a bit of a disappointment. Certainly, the lack of a new iPod touch with a built-in video camera, which was viewed by many as almost a sure thing, was a bit of a letdown.

“We were expecting a new iPod touch model with a video camera, which Apple did not announce,” Munster said. “The lack of a camera may be due to last-minute quality issues, or it may also be a strategic decision to differentiate the nano from the touch, and the touch from the iPhone. Ultimately we see the lack of a camera in the touch as a move to push users toward the iPhone and drive purchases of multiple devices per customer by segmenting the product lines.”

Or to position the iPod touch as a truly competitive portable gaming device. Certainly, that’s what appeared to be going on yesterday as Apple (AAPL) brought out Ubisoft, Tapulous, Gameloft, and Electronic Arts (ERTS) in quick succession to demo their upcoming new games. And then, there were the data points. Consider these:

• 20 million iPod touches sold to date
• Over 100 million iTunes accounts
• Over 1.8 billion apps downloaded to date. Impressive given that Apple passed one billion apps downloaded just last April
• Over 75,000 apps available
• 21,000 of those 75,000 are games and entertainment apps

So nearly one third of all iPhone OS apps sold to date are games and entertainment apps. Clearly, Jobs was on to something when he told The Wall Street Journal in November 2008, “I think the iPhone and iPod touch may emerge as really viable devices in the mobile games market.”

Once $399, Apple’s (AAPL) 32GB iPod touch is now $279. Once $299, the 16GB iPod touch is now $249. And the price of the 8GB model has fallen from $229 to $189. The price of the 16GB nano is now $149, down from $189, and the price of its 8GB sibling is $129, down from $149. Finally, the price of the iPod classic, which is apparently not quite EOL yet, has been cut to $229 from $249.

Now, in the run-up to tomorrow’s invitation-only Apple event, the question is: Will Apple (AAPL) reach the bar? And with what? The answer, if the latest rumors prove true, depends on your feelings about iPods with cameras. Because according to reports, when Apple refreshes its iPod touch and iPod nano players, both will feature cameras–the nano’s for still images, the touch’s for photos and video.

We may also see a new price point for entry-level touch models, one intended to undermine Microsoft’s (MSFT) forthcoming multitouch Zune with HD display and to really juice App Store sales. Perhaps the 16GB touch at $199 and the 8GB at $150.

Beyond this, the event might also include the announcement of iTunes 9, said to include some sort of social networking element; “Cocktail,” a new music format that bundles full-length albums with art, video and other bells and whistles; and perhaps even Blu-ray support (no Beatles, though). And after that? Well, it’s tough to say. Apple’s never an easy read when it comes to product announcements, even when there’s evidence floating around that would seem to suggest otherwise.

So join us tomorrow for live coverage of Apple’s event to see if the above rumors prove true or if Apple’s got something else entirely up its sleeve. The event kicks off at 10 am PDT.

The event may explain as well the “future product transition” that compelled Apple to forecast a nearly 5 percent drop in gross profit margin for the final quarter of the 2008 fiscal year. Apple offered few details of that transition, though CFO Peter Oppenheimer said during a July earnings call that it will involve “state-of-the-art new products that our competitors just aren’t going to be able to match.”

“One of the investments we make is to introduce new products that initially cost more because they deliver an entirely new level of value to the customer,” Apple COO Tim Cook said during the same call. “Then we ride the cost curves down with value engineering and volume manufacturing, leaving us far ahead of our competitors. We have some of these types of investments in front of us that I can’t discuss.”

Until Tuesday, Oct. 14, that is.