XMPP for exchanging game info between two iPad via Wi-Fi, good approach?

Question

Hi all:

Just got my iPad yesterday and I wanna start programming a distributed game between iPads for a little community across the globe, so no blue-tooth.

I've heard of the XMPP protocol to enable data exchange between two PCs, such like this thread on SO

Basically, the approach is a decentralized solution, once a valid connection is established between two iPads, there is no need for the server to be involved. The two iPad can communicate using XMPP. I know the majority of the data would be textual, although some images are also to be transferred across the net.

My concern at the moment is just proof of concept. Is this a good approach? How to re-connect if the connection is broken due to poor Wi-Fi signal strength? Is there a better way to do this sort of thing?

I am new to iPad game programming so any suggestion is welcomed and appreciated.