As I am writing this blog post, the iPad is less than two weeks from launch. Developers have three days to submit iPad apps if they want them considered for the ‘Grand opening of the iPad App Store’. But us developers are a little unsure on one thing.

To be universal or not to be universal. That is the question.

There are a ridiculous number of apps in the app store, and a decent number of those apps will have native iPad ports available on April the 3rd. Some of them will ask the user to pay for the native iPad version if they already have the iPhone version, some will not.

Some will unfairly demand payment for the same app with twice the pixels. Some will fairly ask for a contribution to the large amount of work involved in tailoring an experience for a uniquely new device.

How developers’ decisions to go universal or not are perceived by the public is currently an unknown. It largely depends on how Apple implement the iPad App Store, and change the iPhone App Store, as well as what other developers decide to do.

But my apps will be universal. Apple are encouraging it, and customers will vocally prefer it.

And though I may halve my sales, I also may double the number of devices I have apps installed on. The maths of this is all a bit beyond me, but a hunch says that the day one iPad users will sell my apps better than anyone else ever will. I want them all, and making my apps universal is a good way to get them.

UPDATE – It has been pointed out to me that Apple are requesting that submissions of universal updates to current apps be left until after April 3rd. See about half way down this page: http://bit.ly/cSmog7 – “Don’t submit a universal app as an update to your existing iPhone app until after iPad ships.”

This sucks, as I’ll be missing out on the launch, but I’ll be going universal anyway, and most of this post still stands. I guess we’ll just see substantially less universal apps at launch.