While there may be some debate in the media and among the Apple faithful as to the iPad’s future potential, Walt Disney’s head honcho is singing nothing but praise for the forthcoming device.

Calling the iPad a “game changer,” AppleInsider is reporting that Walt Disney chief executive Bob Iger has “big plans” for Apple’s latest device, which includes interactive television, games, applications and comic books.

Iger gushed his praise for the device during Walt Disney’s quarterly earnings conference call on Tuesday, using as an example an iPad app built for the company’s popular ABC show Lost that would allow users to interact with the show as it airs and learn more information about the program as they view it.

“We find that iPad has a lot of potential,” Iger claimed. “We think it’s a really compelling device. We think it could be a game changer in terms of enabling us to create essentially new forms of content. Obviously it will be a great device to play games on and to watch videos because of the clarity of the screen.

“But the interactivity that it will allow on a portable device with such a high quality screen is going to enable us to really start developing products that are different than the product that you typically see on an Internet-connected computer, or on a television set.”

Among the ways “The House the Mouse Built” plans to take advantage of the iPad’s potential are new ABC News and ESPN Score Center applications. With an emphasis on giving users a new way to view their content, an app such as the one that already exists for ESPN could go from simply providing “rudimentary information” on scores to something much bigger.

“Suddenly this device comes along and provides us with an even more robust technological platform, that makes the interactivity that we are going to provide -- things like read along simple animation music -- to just sort of come to life,” Iger said.

Disney has historically been one of Cupertino’s earliest new technology cheerleaders, probably helped by the fact that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the single largest shareholder of stock in the company.

(Image courtesy of 9to5Mac.com)