Wired's Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson has seen the future of magazines -- and it's on a tablet.

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Wired staffers have been working to create a tablet version of the title for six months, with the goal of having it ready in May.

"We've been looking for a way to do it better, and the good news is that I think we found it," said Anderson.

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Additionally, the success of the iPhone, Kindle and the emergence of cloud computing have paved the way for devices that are less powerful and lighter with a longer battery life than standard laptops, Anderson said. The iPad is just such a device, and it will sell millions of units in its first month and tens of millions in the following months and years, he predicted.

"It will take less than 10 years for it to become mainstream," he said.

Interesting stuff. I tend to agree, with the caveat that there's never been such a prohibitive cost associated with a magazine in the past -- which could be a barrier for some time to come. But it's clear that ubiquitous personal "document devices" will make some sense (I think Apple is right about there being something "between" a laptop and a smartphone) and once people have them, there will be a lot of media consumed that way.

I recently pulled my iPhone 2G out of a drawer and started playing with it for kicks. (More on that later.) Most interesting...how the apps have evolved. I know I'm late to this table, but it's worth noting that apps for magazines and newspapers tend to be easier to read than their site on iPhone Safari. When the iPad gets here and the apps are designed to format print media for the device, I think we'll seriously be on to something.