Task management apps exploded with the introduction of the iPhone App Store, and leading the pack was Cultured Code's Things, which earned an Editor's Choice award from us back in late 2008. The iPhone version of Things had been adapted from the previous Mac iteration, and though it successfully distilled the essence of the popular program into a portable package, Cultured Code had to significantly simplify the way Things worked to fit it on the iPhone/iPod touch screen.

But now, with the iPad and its glossy 9.7-inch screen on the horizon, Cultured Code is closing in on a version of Things that'll find the happy middle ground between the two versions, pairing a touch interface like that of the iPhone with the screen real estate of a much larger device.

"We have the desire to show users more information. Now with the iPad, we have much more screen space available, so now the information can be displayed again," says Werner Jainek, co-owner of Cultured Code and developer of Things for iPad. "We think it's a huge advantage with the bigger screen."

Jainek says getting the iPad project off the ground initially was a snap, since the shared OS between the two devices allowed them to reuse much of the core code from the iPhone version. This has allowed Cultured Code to focus on refining the user interface to take full advantage of the large iPad screen, which eliminates the need to drill in and out of menus as you would on the iPhone. As such, Things users will be able to pop between multiple lists with ease, utilize the new popover windows (which you'll be seeing a lot of within iPad apps), and even access additional navigational controls when using the iPad in landscape orientation.

Without actual iPad units in their hands during development, Jainek admits the biggest challenge has been developing an intuitive user interface, though it's not for a lack of trying. "It's pretty hard to actually see how Apple has designed user interfaces for its applications," he admits. "We have mined them all -- we have looked at every screenshot in very much detail to figure out exactly how they did it."

"We really don't want to make any mistakes, and [want to] follow in the path that Apple has led," Jainek continues. "Not having a real device to play with is a limiting factor, definitely. For example, the iWork apps -- I would be very interested to see how they solved certain problems, UI-wise, so that we can actually copy that for our application, or at least be inspired by it and see what we can come up with."

However, despite having to work from screenshots and secondhand impressions, Cultured Code says they were greatly inspired by what Apple showed of its own iPad apps, especially with the Calendar and Contacts, which Jainek says use "real-world metaphors in [the] user interface."

"Apple really put forth that paradigm that what you're looking at are really objects behind a piece of glass that you're manipulating with your finger," explains Jainek. "I think this lowers the entrance barrier for a lot of people, and we really wanted to contribute to the experience of this device. And as with the other platforms, we really want to make Things feel at home on the new device."

Michael Simmons, director of business development and marketing at Cultured Code, concurs with his partner, and further describes the iPad as a potential "device for everyone else who doesn't want to understand a computer." As such, Simmons says it falls on developers to make their apps even easier to use on the platform.

"With that comes responsibility to design an application that is even easier, even better, and more powerful; not necessary powerful from a feature-rich point of view, but powerful from an easy-to-use and intuitive point of view," says Simmons. "Like Werner was saying, it's basically an alternate reality behind the glass. And to be able to have that kind of power, and have those paradigms of different ways of interacting, we just see such potential of being able to take Things and make it even cooler, better, and more importantly, easier to use."

Simmons and Jainek say the iPad version of Things is on target to launch alongside the iPad early next month, but that the app's cost remains up in the air until Apple reveals how it plans to structure pricing on the platform's App Store. While Cultured Code wasn't yet able to share screens of the iPad version in action, they did send along the sketch you see above, which offers some hints as to how the app will maintain the acclaimed usability of the iPhone and Mac versions, while considering the aforementioned paradigm of basing apps on real-life objects. Should they succeed at blending both priorities, list junkies the world over may find a new favorite way to manage their time come April 3.