The following video of Time Inc’s tablet version of Sports Illustrated is pretty impressive. While a lot of webfully minded folks balk at any piece of technology whose marketing combines the words magazine, digital, and Adobe, it’s clear that this demo will get a lot of old school publishers all hot and bothered.

The main reason why publishers will love it is the same reason that open web advocates won’t - it conforms to the traditional media world view - it’s an issue based information product that plays nicely inside decades old workflows and production models. Old vernacular, methodologies, and paradigms can be grafted onto this new technology and work from day one. Whether or not that really is a good thing remains to be seen, but what is certain is that this looks fun to play with.

The real X-factor here will be whatever Apple does on the tablet front and how exclusive that product might be. A cheap, usable, slick tablet with an Apple on the back would be quite a bomb. And, if Alex Albrecht is to be believed (clip below), that may just be what we get. Personally I can see Apple releasing a dirt cheap piece of populist hardware - IF and ONLY IF that hardware is tied into an iTunes newsstand that sells digital subscriptions.