TechCrunch leaked a build for the Facebook iPad application back in July. It seemed complete then. But the company delayed the launch.
In fact, they delayed for so long that a developer quit. It seemed that it would be quite some time before we saw the social network in app-form on the world’s most popular tablet.
But today the Facebook iPad application is finally out in the wild, ready for anyone to download here.
The app was engineered from the ground-up, specifically for the site. It comes with all of the familiar features along with a new one for app discovery.
It features a navigation menu on the left side. You can tap to flip to the different components of Facebook, like groups, News Feed, messages, and photos. The app displays a chat bar next to the News Feed.
The app discovery feature works by posting updates to the news feed that come from different apps your friends are using. You can click on these links and it will take you to the app in Apple’s store. If, for example, one of your friends just got a high score in Angry Birds, the post would show up in your News Feed. If you happened to live under a rock and didn’t know what Angry Birds was, you could follow the link and go straight to the app for downloading.
App developers should be excited about this because it opens the doors to viral discovery within the world’s largest social network.
Check out all the features and screen shots here.
