The Apple iPad can reintroduce the serendipity of reading we know from print. Will you pay for that?

The Apple iPad – that tablet computer everyone was speculating about – is out, and publishers are hoping that Apple will can offer the same magic for the print world that it did for the music industry with iTunes. So is digital journalism suddenly saleable?

After remaking the business of the music industry and re-inventing the mobile phone, Steve Jobs obviously is up for something new, and journalism has got his attention. The New York Times quoted an internal source: "Steve believes in old media companies and wants them to do well. He believes democracy is hinged on a free press and that depends on there being a professional press." Sounds like he has a business model in mind.

Presenting the iPad yesterday, Jobs was joined by the New York Times's Martin Nisenholtz, the senior vice-president overseeing the paper's digital operations, to present a crisp Times app for the iPad. Financially the New York Times has not struck any deals with Apple yet – as Nisenholtz said, it gave them only three weeks to develop the app. However, this seems likely to be the device that will finally put a price on digital journalism, and not only because the Times is heading towards a metered pay model for its content.

So what does it look like? When Nisenholtz introduced the Times application, he said: "We're incredibly psyched to pioneer the next generation of digital journalism. We want to create the best of print and best of digital, all rolled up into one." Which is what they did.

Still there is something new that might be worth paying for: a much stronger focus on design via a 9.7 inch colour display.

This allows the iPad to reintroduce the serendipity and the browsing we know from print: several articles fit on one screen and the size of an article marks its importance. As seen with some experiments before, video can play inline. In addition, with Wi-Fi, 3G and the multitouch interface, it can offer readers more interaction than ebook readers such as Amazon's Kindle.

The app developed within three weeks combines the visual design of print with new interactive features

Combining a new visual approach with the iTunes payment system, which reaches 100m credit-card accounts, Apple could help create a way for media companies to change the consumer attitudes of the up till now free digital era.

The New York Times were the only publishing company that was approached by Apple. However, Condé Nast is preparing for the iPad since quite a while. Sarah Chubb, president of Condé Nast Digital, said the company plans to have some of their magazines ready when the iPad ships in March. Stephanie Clifford of the always well informed Times' Media Decoder blog is as specific as saying that Vanity Fair, Wired and GQ are likely candidatest to be the first. Sports Illustrated of Time Warner is also ready for take off. In December, they had their ideas presented by the Thing.

Next Issue Media, the digital initiative of Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. announced last month, declined to comment, saying: "We are certainly paying close attention to all developments in this area (including today's iPad announcement) and are looking forward to seeing new products come to market that will support the kind of highly featured, immersive reading experience we intend to create."

For that, the new device has to become popular – and the acceptance of the Kindle says it can. While the Kindle's exact sales numbers are not released, it is widely estimated that as of the last quarter 2009 there were about 1.5 million devices sold.

If Steve Jobs would save journalism, it might be possible that publishers would get him the Holy Grail.

If journalism reinvents itself in an extra crisp version for the iPad and other tablet devices, would you have a problem paying for it?

