Update: You can download the latest beta build 1.8.4 from here.

At the Galaxy S III launch event, it was revealed that the device would ship with an exclusive build of Flipboard, a fancy news reader that is wildly popular over on iOS. Not long after that, the apk was pull from the Galaxy S III ROM leak. Our own John Thompson took it for a spin and came away impressed.

But the big question was: when will we officially see Flipboard become available for more than a solitary device? We [kind-of] have an answer to that now: soon. Basically, the Flipboard crew wanted to test the application out on one device, with one resolution, and expand from there.

Thus, we can expect a beta version of the app to become available to a small number of users directly from Flipboard (it won't be in the market initially). This way, the app can be tested on multiple devices before it hits prime time. I think this is good planning on Flipboard's part, because it ensures the best chance of having a fully polished product when it does become publicly available in the Play Store.

We know how many of you are chomping at the bit for some flippy-reader-action, so we'll make sure to let you know when the beta program opens up.

[Engadget]