If you’ve been waiting the better part of 15 months to have an official Facebook app for your iPad, you’re not alone. Maybe you’ve even caved in and purchased one of the many third-party apps but have been left wanting more. A new report claims that your patience may soon be rewarded.

The New York Times Bits blog is reporting that Facebook has been working on a native iPad app for “almost a year,” despite the company publicly dismissing such an idea. According to the usual “people briefed on Facebook’s plans,” the free iPad app will be released in the “coming weeks” and “has been carefully designed and optimized for the tablet.”

“People who have seen the application said it has a slick design that has been tailored for the iPad and its touchscreen interface,” the report claims. “Facebook developers and designers have also overhauled the Facebook Chat and Facebook Groups features for the application. And the app will go beyond the features available on the Facebook Web site by allowing users to shoot and upload photos and videos directly from the iPad’s built-in cameras.”

“The photo and video experience is amazing, offering full resolution and full-screen images,” said one of the newspaper’s sources who claims to have actually seen the app.

Reportedly, the official Facebook app will get a big push from Apple when it becomes available “by featuring it prominently in the App Store,” an interesting side note given recent tensions between the two companies. Neither Facebook nor Apple would comment on the record about a forthcoming iPad app.

One group who’s likely to view the release with disdain are the third-party developers cashing in from Facebook’s tardiness. The App Store is chock full of iPad apps offering a better Facebook tablet experience, although most of them simply use the existing mobile website and few of them offer a compelling experience.

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(Image courtesy of The New York Times)