Have you purchased an iPad yet? I haven’t, but many of you have. More than 6 million of you, in fact.

Why has this little device been so popular? It’s not a computer and its not a phone, just like they said when they released it: It’s in between. Many have dubbed this as the ultimate consumption device. You buy movies, music and games on it, not to mention all the other apps it has. It does almost everything, except FaceTime, but we’ll wait until spring for that. But for now, the current focus is on subscription services on iTunes. What type of subscriptions? Magazines, journals and newspapers.

Online distribution has been the thorn in the side of newspapers and magazines everywhere since the dawn of the Internet. Should it be free, should there be premium content, how can we make money off of what most Internet users expect to be free? Who has the answer to these questions?

Apparently Steve Jobs does, along with his pal Rupert Murdoch. Not just those two, but so does Richard Branson of Virgin Group. Starting this December, the iPad and soon the iPhone will offer a new type of newspaper as well as magazines. These will be the first subscription news and magazine apps on the iTunes App Store.

First up is what has been dubbed as The Daily, although not the first, but it will soon be the most popular online newspaper. If done right, it could make the Huffington Post look like a little kid’s website. It will be an Apple-esque newspaper that will have news as well as premium features like video and other links inside the article and will all be put together with Apple-approved styling and design.

In addition to The Daily will be Project magazine. It’s a magazine launching on the iPad with cool articles that have videos and other images built into it. It will look about the same as the The Daily. These two new publications using the Internet as a medium, will be the first to fully utilize social media, online distribution and actually generate revenue in this new era of journalism. Right?

I think so. With the power of Apple and its App Store, anything is possible, and I think these two new publications will be rather successful. But what about the rest of us? You know, real newspapers like the New York Times, Washington Post or Iowa State Dailys of the world.

How are papers using the “old way” going to stay in business? You can’t charge a huge subscription fee for your online newspaper that has stories most people could find for free. The philosophy that needs to be taken is as follows: If you can’t beat them, join them. Follow what the others are doing, get in the App Store, charge a lower subscription fee and hope for the best.

The largest issue facing the old model is how much revenue will be lost due to the switch to online-only distribution. To that I ask, “Would you rather have a few dimes, or a whole bunch of nickels?” And that is how I hope the Iowa State Daily — luckily we’re a mostly free newspaper — and others will stay in business for years to come.