iPad Rental Co. Celebrates Arrival of Long-Awaited Facebook App

The novelty posed by our Apple iPad rentals is surpassed only by the usefulness of its applications.

Whenever a popular app is rumored on the horizon, we tend to prepare ourselves -- because it's something our clients are bound to ask about. About a month ago, we got wind that there was a Facebook app in the works for the world's most popular tablet, the Apple iPad.

The New York Times officially shared this possibility at around that time -- although its sources weren't cited. At that time, it was stated that the Facebook app would be "hitting the market soon" and that it had been in "development for about a year."

Well, we're pleased to announce that the NYT prediction (as well as our own inklings) seem to be right.

This morning, most major tech resources are covering the story as fact and not rumor. And surprisingly, there was a code leak that led to the discovery. In the latest Facebook-for-iPhone update, users discovered an embedded piece of code meant for the iPad.

It is very likely that this means that Facebook intends its app to be universal across Apple devices -- and will not be releasing an iPad-specific version.

While the official app for the iPad has yet to be released, certain techie tinkerers are already fiddling with the code. Mr @AeroEchelon made this Tweet about 23 hours ago: "If you change the UIDeviceFamily to 2 for iPhone on the Facebook app you get an iPad version! http://t.co/wlCgGJt."

Those who've gotten into the code and fiddled around have been reporting back on the new Facebook app's interface. According to GIGAOM's Darrell Etherington, "Like MyPad, Facebook for iPad features a navigation column on the right with a dark background that provides you access to your messages, news feed, photos and more. But it also features a lot of elements borrowed from the site’s homepage, and a photos interface that looks like the native iPad Photos app."

Etherington went on to say that, "Other highlights include the frequent appearance of contextual pop-up menus, which should make interacting with your shared content and navigating your network quite iPad friendly, and a Places section that displays a full Google map with visuals to go with your list of check-ins, all on one screen."

Sounds good. For those businesses taking advantage of our iPad rental offerings, the soon-to-be-released "official" Facebook app should allow them to stay connected with friends and family while on the road for trade shows, conferences, events or corporate seminars.