Agile Web Solutions' 1Password password-storing and security app has been updated more than 120 times since its initial May 2006 release, but the next major version won't be an incremental update with bug fixes and the like. Instead, the developer is pooling its resources into bringing a new version of its award-winning app (which earned a five-star review from us in 2008) to the iPad, following successful releases on Mac and iPhone.

"I think the iPad is a really interesting new kind of device," states David Chartier, chief media producer at Agile Web Solutions. "It's more portable than a laptop, but it gives you more space and more ability to do things than a phone. There's a lot of portable power that we haven't really seen before." Similarly, Agile appears to be drawing from both ends of the spectrum for the iPad version of 1Password, designing an app that displays large amounts of information (like the Mac version), yet offers the kind of tactile interactivity that only a touch screen can provide.

Chartier claims his team was inspired from the get-go to make 1Password for iPad the best it could be, and not just leave users to super-size the iPhone version. "We definitely want to design 1Password for the iPad to take advantage of all of the iPad's benefits," explains Chartier. "We're not happy with just telling users to use that 2x button. So we're spreading out the layout; we're trying to display more information at once."

Unlike many iPad developers that have stayed tight-lipped about their plans for the device, Agile posted a mock-up image of the iPad version of 1Password as early as mid-February, and has since updated their blog to show even more of what this new iteration is capable of. As you can see from these screens, the still-in-development user interface makes stunning use of the iPad's large display to show significantly more information than an iPhone iteration would be capable of, yet looks to be very approachable and easy to use. Chartier says designing the interface for this new device has been a unique task based around some very basic questions.

"A lot of the challenges center around which hand are people going to hold [the iPad] with, and which hand are people going to use it with? Where should I be placing these buttons for easy access," asks Chartier. "If I put a toolbar on the left side, are they going to have to reach for it and obscure something that they need to be looking at with their arm? With a traditional mouse and keyboard, you're never blocking part of the screen with your entire arm. So there are really unique challenges that we've been wrestling with through this entire process."

In a blog post following our phone interview, Chartier claims they've further refined the iPad version's UI to make it so that regardless of which hand you use to hold the tablet, you shouldn't have an issue with blocking necessary info in regular use. Moreover, he tells us that while the iPad screen offers the ability to display so much more information than a smaller mobile device, the team is working very hard to make sure users aren't overwhelmed when using the app. "We're trying to really push the advantages of all that screen space without overloading the user with too many buttons, or too many choices," explains Chartier. "We're taking that balance very seriously."

One other big advantage of the iPad over the iPhone and iPod touch will be speed, Chartier believes, as running the same operating system on a faster processor should result in a much quicker experience -- potentially to the extent that the debate over enabling third-party multitasking could subside a bit.

"Most people are going to be coming to this from the iPhone or iPod touch, which are decently fast devices in and of themselves, but now Apple is running basically the same operating system on a much larger device, with a larger processor and more horsepower," asserts Chartier. "It seems like people are going to be really impressed by the speed, maybe even to the point where the multitasking issue -- for anyone who really is worried about it -- might disappear a little bit, because you can move so quickly between apps and do a lot of things much faster."

And just as developers might see the iPad as a blank slate for them to define, Chartier says the mainstream public may not fully understand or embrace the device at first, but believes it's only a matter of time. "I think the ambiguity of the iPad will be a little bit of a speed bump in the beginning, but I think long-term, it's going to be a pretty big deal," he says. "I think there's going to be some very interesting applications that we've never seen before."