WebIS’ Pocket Informant is one one of my most used, most depended on iPhone apps. I use it for managing my calendar and, thanks to its integration with web-based Toodledo, my tasks. The app was a bit late to the iPhone game but when it was finally released it hit the ground running. Numerous updates later it is most functional, more stable and easier to use than ever.

With an iPad arriving on April 3 it only seemed logical to wonder about WebIS’ plans for bringing the app to the iPad. Sure, from day one the iPhone version will work on Apple’s newest device but with so much additional screen real estate I can only imagine what founder Alex Kac and his team might cook up. I decided to stop wondering and asked Alex about his plans.

Here’s what he told me…

Basically Alex and company plan to take the same approach to PI on the iPad as they did with their iPhone app. They aren’t going to rush to be first or even second out of the gate. Instead they are going to take their time to get it right from the start.

First they will get the current iPhone app working well on the big screen. (Alex noted that while the first phase won’t be overly “aggressive” in its features it WILL get PI working well on the iPad and, best of all, they are shooting to have it out the door less than a month after the iPad releases. )

Only then will they turn their attention to creating an app designed specifically for the iPad. Specifically Alex wrote…

The iPad is an interesting thing. We are doing our work for the iPad in two phases. Phase 1 is lets get PI working on the iPad so that we can take advantage of the big screen. We will do some work to use the new controls and abilities, so it will be more usable on the iPad and such, but its still going to be the same basic design. Phase 2 is a rework of many design elements to fit the iPad better. That is going to take a while and since 2.0 is a big huge update, we’re trying to do it in there. We’re not going to release on day 1 either. Neither Chris nor I feel comfortable releasing a product on a beta SDK with a Simulator as the only testing.

This is exactly the approach they took two years ago and I wrote about on a different site in a post entitled “First From The Gate Isn’t Necessarily Best… “. It was the right approach then… it is the right approach now.

One final note. When it comes to pricing Alex and Chris aren’t sure what approach they will take. They may release it as a separate app or they may take the approach of offering a universal OS iPhone app. Either way I’ll be first in line to buy it.