I think that the iPad and similar devices down the road really could change everything as far as print and multimedia consumption is concerned. But it's going to take a long time (years, perhaps) until these publishers are producing content that's compelling enough that people will actually buy it as opposed to finding similar stuff for free on the web.
My hunch is that these first attempts by magazines will look cool but feel really gimmicky, to the point that they're a bit of a joke. Think cheesy quizzes and games and video content that's been available on the web for weeks (remember, these digital magazines will take time to produce). I wrote about this topic a bit more back in January if you're interested: http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/26/apple-tablet-book-revolutio...
And I'm sure the magazines will be littered with canvas tag-based banner ads that would be much more intrusive than a full page print ad. No ad-blocker plugins on an iPad.
My hunch is that these first attempts by magazines will look cool but feel really gimmicky, to the point that they're a bit of a joke. Think cheesy quizzes and games and video content that's been available on the web for weeks (remember, these digital magazines will take time to produce). I wrote about this topic a bit more back in January if you're interested: http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/26/apple-tablet-book-revolutio...