Before Apple CEO Steve Jobs even unveiled the official product, the IPad was creating buzz. And why wouldn’t it? Apple’s brand has become synonymous with innovation. But immediate reactions were mixed. Critics dissected everything from the way it looked to its name - which triggered bawdy jokes and videos. That didn’t stop Apple – they kept the news coming by jumping headlong into the eBooks arena. Five of the six largest publishers happily plunged in after them, in order to be included in the iBooks app. As more and more content providers move to digital distribution we wondered what the IPad might mean for publishing, especially smaller publishers.

Dan Sinker helps us answer that. Sinker is an assistant professor of journalism at Columbia College, Chicago. He published the former Punk Planet magazine and is the man behind cellstories.net.