This morning, Apple (AAPL) broadcast invitations to a product launch gathering to be held that day at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The invite features another variation of the iconic iPod silhouette and the tagline, “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it,” so presumably the event will focus on music, as expected.

Beatles fans will no doubt note that Sept. 9 is also the day the group’s Rock Band videogame will arrive at market. Coincidence, or could Wednesday be the day the Beatles catalog finally comes to iTunes? We’ll find out next Wednesday.

Interestingly, HTC recently said that its 2009 revenue would decline, after earlier forecasting a 10 percent increase. The reason for the fall? Delays in product launches.

Coincidence? Tough to say. One thing’s certain, though: If the Lancaster has been delayed or ends up being scrapped, it’s bad news for HTC, which will soon face increased competition from Motorola (MOT), Sony Ericsson and other handset vendors developing phones for Google’s (GOOG) Android.

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. Then we ride the cost curves down with value engineering and volume manufacturing, leaving us far head of our competitors. We have some of these types of investments in front of us that I can’t discuss.”

– Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, July 21, 2008

The media will gather tomorrow at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters for an invitation-only event–presumably about updates to its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. And as with every Apple (AAPL) product launch, tomorrow’s has been preceded by feverish speculation about what form, exactly, those updates will take. Among the rumors currently making the rounds:

• Apple will uncrate a new line of MacBooks whose cases are carved from a single brick of aircraft-grade aluminum.
• Apple’s refreshed MacBook line will include a machine priced at below $1000, perhaps even as low as $800.
• The new MacBooks will feature glass, multi-touch trackpads and LED-backlit displays.
• They’ll swap out Intel’s chipset–not the central processor–for Nvidia’s MCP7A, which reportedly blows the doors off Intel’s G45 in the graphics department.
• Blu-ray will be offered as an option on high-end models.
• Finally, Apple’s new line of portables will include the unmatchable “state-of-the-art new product” to which Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and COO Tim Cook referred earlier this year, and that product will be a tablet. Something along the lines of the “MacBook Touch” described by MacDailyNews back in July.
  

  Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like but fuller-featured multi-touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion’s haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. … App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too.”

An interesting spread of rumors, some quite likely, others improbable … and yet entirely plausible because, after all, it’s Apple we’re talking about. We’ll find out which of these proves true tomorrow at 10 a.m. PDT. I’ll be covering the event live, so be sure pay us a visit tomorrow.

iPhone is launching in one carrier in one country. We’re in about 100 countries and 300 carriers. … The momentum we are seeing in terms of product launches, carrier support in terms of product launches of BlackBerries, and subscriber additions is exceptional, and we believe it will continue on into the second half of the year.”

– Research in Motion Co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie, June 2007

Looks like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays–Research in Motion. Shares in the company slipped more than 6 percent to a new 52-week low today. This after charting a new 52-week low last Friday driven by the 27 percent drop RIM took after it issued a lower-than-expected forecast for the current period. That decline was the company’s steepest in eight years, belying CEO Jim Balsillie’s claims that emerging competition from new handset makers isn’t undermining its competitive position. And though RIM’s product roadmap is relatively strong heading into the fall season, the company still has its work cut out for it scrapping with Apple (AAPL) and its iPhone and now T-Mobile (DT) and the Android-based G1.

“RIM’s business model is starting to show its pressure points. The company has become increasingly dependent on hardware sales. As a result, the timing of new product launches can have a big impact on their results,” wrote Brian Modoff of Deutsche Bank in a report. “We think this trend will only worsen and their numbers are now, more than ever, dependent on a steady stream of hit products.”

Needham and Company analyst Craig Bisagna was even more dubious of prospects for Research in Motion (RIMM), criticizing the company for its foolishly dismissive attitude toward new rivals. Just because Windows Mobile handsets haven’t proven themselves worthy competitors to the Blackberry doesn’t mean the iPhone or the G1 won’t.

“We continue to believe that the company has its head in the sand,” Bisagna said in a note to clients. “It’s delusional to think [Apple and HTC] won’t cut into BlackBerry sales as well, especially in the consumer market.”