The iPad is an abomination: closed, closed, closed.  But, as the authors of a Twitter client, we have to consider.

The issues are not dissimilar to those of the iPhone.  The iPhone is closed, but there is a certain plausible deniability to the arguments offered for its crippling: the phone are connected to the cellular telephone system, which is pretty shaky, so it “had to be done”.  I’ve always hated this argument, don’t believe it, but I guess I didn’t have a choice.  And Twitter owes its popularity in large part to the iPhone, I believe (the best mobile platform for Twittering), so perhpas I wanted to believe this.

For the iPad there is no fig leaf.  The iPad is a computer that’s been specifically configured not to allow running programs.  This means that, as makers of an iPad Twitter client, we would have to give 30% of our revenue to Apple.  WHY?

In short, we won’t be developing for the iPad any time soon.  Will others?  I bet they will.  But they shouldn’t.