"We take notes because we want to save information that helps us get things done," Tamte says. And to his way of thinking, too many of the note-taking apps he's tried on his iPad just don't let that happen easily enough.

Fortunately for Tamte, he runs a software company. So he can create an app that addresses his complaints.

That product, , debuted on the App Store Wednesday. It's an iPad app from that looks to combine a notebook with a to-do manager for tablet users. The app can store user-generated notes and sketches, along with Word documents, PDFs, and photos; it can also produce to-do lists while automatically linking notes and documents so that they can be easily found.

"Note-taking is to tablets as word processing is to PCs," says Tamte, Theory.io's founder and president. And he knows a thing or two about PC software: He started Mac software publisher MacSoft two decades ago before joining Apple as a senior director of consumer marketing. Tamte also has a significant gaming background: He launched Halo during his time with Bungie Software and also founded game publisher Destineer.

With Projectbook, though, the focus is on getting things done. The app offers an extensive list of features. You can format text with your choice of 14 fonts, 25 colors, and 16 sizes, along with bold, italic, and underline styles. It has a built-in outliner: Tapping a bullet or checkbox icon puts your notes in outline format, in which disclosure triangles collapse and expand sections of data. You can even reorder items in the outline by dragging them across your screen.