FileMaker (http://www.filemaker.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple, has announced the immediate availability of its Bento for iPad on the Apple App Store for US$4.99.

The app is based on Bento for iPhone with enhancements to make the most of the big, beautiful iPad screen, says Ryan Rosenberg, FileMaker vice president of marketing and services. The new app enables users to manage contacts, track projects, plan events and more, and can be used by itself or synchronized with Bento 3 for Mac.
 
Bento for iPad works in both portrait and landscape views, automatically switching between views as the user rotates the iPad. Users can touch the screen to edit information in choice, date and rating fields and checkboxes. A new quick tap lets users watch videos, view photos and send e-mails. Customers can even browse web links in Bento without leaving the app. 
 
The app features new notebook, clipboard, and glass themes that you can apply to any Bento library. It also includes 25 pre-designed customizable templates ranging from event planning, time billing, recipes, classes, dieting and more. All templates are fully modifiable, and users can create their own libraries to suit any type of task. What's more, Bento for iPad supports 15 field types including text, numbers, choice, checkbox, media, time, date, durations, currency, rating, address, phone number, email, URL and IM Account.
 
Bento for iPad is available today (in English only) from the U.S. Apple App Store, Bento for iPad will be available in other countries when iPad is available there.

A two-minute video featuring Bento users commenting on how they plan to use Bento for iPad can be found here: https://www.box.net/shared/static/mjk8rkpqkt.mov .