There is a huge gap in Apple's own iPad software lineup, a supermassive black hole of such proportions that it is entirely capable of ruining the iPad experience for some users.

We are referring to iPhoto. iPhoto has been a fundamental part of the Mac experience for many years. By providing essential photo editing tools and a convenient way to manage the thousands of photos that are captured within the lifecycle of any basic digital camera, iPhoto for OS X is now a well respected and well loved Mac application.

Missing, but not for much longer

Back in January 2010 not even Apple themselves truly understood what the iPad would be used for. Now, just over a year and 15 million iPad sales later, they are starting to form a good snapshot of iPad activity. If GarageBand and iMovie are a good indication, and we certainly think that they are, Apple have decided that the iPad is as much about content creation as content consumption.

Yes, people use the iPad to read and consume, but they love to create things too. And as our very own viewing figures suggest, that desire to create content on the iPad is increasing month on month.

The missing app

iLife for Mac OS X consists of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand and iWeb. So far we have been treated to a great version of iMovie and a spectacular GarageBand adaptation, but iPhoto has always been the most popular of the iLife suite.

We think iPhoto will arrive at the same time as the long rumoured iPad with Retina Display (iPad 3?). What better first party app to promote the eye-popping clarity of a Retina Display than iPhoto?

Out of the box photo management and editing on the iPad is non existent. To be honest, it's simply not acceptable. We are certain that Apple realise this and that they are working on fixing this problem, and probably using an iPad specific version of iPhoto.

We expect iPhoto for iPad by April 2012 at the very latest. It really can't come soon enough!