But when you export a file on Pages, it goes somewhere and is saved, and then you can access it when you sync up to your computer later. So, couldn't a 3rd party app eventually find a way to access that file, since its there somewhere on your ipad?
Not today. I have saved files from each app on my iPad and looked for them from each other app. For instance, I grab a pdf using air sharing hd and I can see it in air sharing but not in good reader. The same is true in the reverse. Apple has this thing knotted up so tight you gotta jailbreak it just to move files around.
I'm not jailbreaking it ... yet ... but I'm getting close.
I don't want to make a netbook out of my iPad but I've gotta find a way to get files on and off the thing without dealing with usb or even email. Well, I suppose I can deal with email because at least it's wireless but somebody in Cupertino left their thinking cap at home on this topic. Docs2go offers the most promising solution as it was designed to get around the limitations of the iPhone and turn it into a business device. I tested it on my iPad in 2x mode and it is able to open and modify google docs. This workaround might just keep me going for now, especially if dataviz offers an upgrade path once they release the iPad version of docs2go, but I really expect my iPad to end up either jailbroken or for sale on ebay if Apple doesn't offer a non gimp-legged solution to file management within the year.
And I still haven't ruled out taking mine back this week over this. It's just plain stupid to dangle productivity apps in front of a user and then tell them they can't save anything except by dragging along a "real computer" and a usb cable or by emailing documents to themselves to get them on and off the iPad.
Gimp, gimpity gimpy freakin' gimp.