On Monday, social networking giant Facebook finally released its first mobile app, specifically designed for the iPad.

Facebook’s iPad app was rumored to debut last week at Apple’s iPhone event but was a no-show. The new app allows users to use their fingertips to scroll through news feeds. As with the regular browser-based Facebook interface, a user's games, other apps, groups and lists are organized in the left-hand navigation column, with messages and notifications still at the top of every screen.

A key feature of the iPad-specific app is its integration with other iOS apps. The Facebook app will send the user straight to other apps when the user navigates to them from a friend’s news post or status update. The iPad app will let users chat with friends and play games on Facebook in full-screen mode.

Facebook, which has more than 800 million users, is stepping up efforts to establish the brand in the field of mobile technology, aiming to take advantage of the shift to smartphones and apps. The company is introducing the iPad app as part of a push to encourage software developers to work with its platform on a range of devices.

The software arrives alongside support for social games, like Zynga's Farmville, on the mobile versions of the Web site. Facebook has already introduced support for social games on the mobile versions of its online service. Facebook's mobile service will also offer bookmarks within the site of a user's favorite games, for quick access.

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