It seems like just yesterday that every commentator with a keyboard was announcing the imminent death of Apple. But the last five years have brought a turnaround that is unprecedented in the history of this planet we live upon. Now, Apple is one of the wealthiest, most successful, and most respected businesses in the world — and it's all riding on Steve Jobs' ability to keep innovating.

Even, and especially, when he's on a roll. And boy is he on one now.

The iPhone didn't just change the way we think about our cell phones. It changed the way the entire web world thinks about content.

Just when everyone had settled on smartphones, now Steve is doing it again: Next month, Apple will ship a quarter of a million iPads. For those of you who don't know what an iPad is, you can click here. Basically, it is a larger iPod Touch, and the next generation iPad will add cell phone service.

Where Apple made its headway with the iPod and iPhone was not with hardware, but with software and content. Both are useless without music and Apps. And Apple learned its lesson from its nemesis archrival, Microsoft: Control the distribution system and you control the content. Apple makes a small profit on the hardware, and an incremental profit every time someone downloads a song or iPhone App.

They're seeking the same model for the iPad. Basically, Apple is out cutting deals with the old media world to make their content accessible in the new media world. For a share of the license, they will make their bigger-formatted pages viewable on the iPad.

From a design standpoint, this is both a blessing and a curse. We were just barely beginning to wrap our heads around the mobile market. Now, we have to graduate to the tablet market.

If you are a publisher (and nowadays, who isn't) there is no doubt that the iPad -- just like the iPhone -- will be a game-changer for your business. The question is, how? Let me know your thoughts, and believe you me, there are no wrong answers!