Google launches Gmail for the iPad

Google has announced an enhanced version of its popular email client Gmail designed for the iPad.

In a blog posting, engineering manager Alex Nicolaou argued that Google’s work to optimise Gmail for touchscreen devices began when the first iPhones and Android handsets came onto the market.

He explained that this new version would take advantage of the iPad’s large touchscreen and tablet form factor to include “an experimental two-pane user interface”.

The new interface will feature a user’s conversations down the left hand side and messages in the right column, he added.

“All the features of the Gmail web app that you're used to, such as offline access and aggressive caching to reduce latency, are present in the iPad version,” Nicolaou explained.

“Tablet devices are still very new, so expect changes as we continue to optimise for this new format.”

The iPad was finally launched to great fanfare in the US on Saturday.

Although it is being marketed, as the iPhone was originally, as primarily a consumer device, its enterprise credentials have been given a boost by the launch of a couple of new Citrix apps.

The latest research seems to indicate Apple could be on to yet another winner after its success with the iPhone. A new survey from price comparison site Kelkoo UK last week found that 40 percent of consumers are ready to ditch their laptops for a tablet PC like the iPad.