Hasn't Apple patented all rectangular electronic devices?
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Speaking of cans of worms, don't get me started on the atrociously designed search capabilities of iTunes.
And frankly, the idea of examining screen shots to determine which apps have actually been designed to work on the iPad versus those that have simply been slapped into the iOS category is, ahem, less than efficient.
Of course, if iTunes actually had a category for *true* iPad apps rather than relying upon the inconsistently used "HD" convention, the huge number of apps designed for the iPad would shrink tremendously.
"Less than efficient" is a marvelous understatement.
Follow that philosophy, and as noted, not only would it be a pain in the ass, but you'd be taking a device already handicapped by arbitrary limitations and making it even less useful by eliminating a sizable portion of the App Store apps.
I understand why Apple originally did the pixel doubling trick versus perhaps "retina sizing" apps--they wanted devs to develop specifically for the iPad, and wanted to use the full screen ratio of the iPad versus the narrower ratio of the iPhone. I get it, I really do. But now--some twenty months later, it's pretty obvious that either devs buy into marketing/developing for the iPad, or they don't. Meanwhile, it's the iPad's user base that Apple chooses to penalize by forcing us to frequently choose between pixelated doubled apps that do what we need but are unreadable, a crappy "HD" universal app at twice the price (but at least I can read it!) or no app at all. Or better still from both Apple & the devs' perspective, you can pay twice for the same functionality, once for your phone and once for your iPad (*glares at the MLB AtBat app*) Sorry, but that's just silly when it's not the technology that's holding things back.
And it's a very good reason to jailbreak, because RetinaPad immensely enhances the iPad's viewabilty of those "designed for the iPhone" apps, even if it doesn't fix the landscape issue and even though it uses the narrower ratio. Apps designed for the phone only go from pixelated and annoying to crisp, if a wee bit letterboxed on the long sides. That's a very minor sacrifice that allows me to use useful apps which the devs have in some cases stated flat out are not worth their time to redesign for the iPad.
Sorry, Apple--at this point, that "trick" no longer accomplishes what you intended, and greatly irritates your customers.
As for a separate OS, I don't see what would be accomplished in that. The functionality improvements needed for the iPad would in most cases be just as useful for the iPhone or even iPod Touch. Ask any jailbreaker who has both an iPhone and an iPad--their favorite functional/UI tweaks are probably replicated on both devices. In fact, I think RetinaPad is about the only tweak I use on the iPad that isn't also relevant to the phone. Things like better access to the file system and improved folders are really needed universally in iOS, not just by the physically larger device.
