Watching all of the iPad demos, it appears very likely that publishers see this "new" format as an opportunity to monetize content that the web (HTML) has been marginalizing. At the moment, most users just want to read good articles and content, which is freely available on the web. Publishers, Wired in this example and many more likely to follow, are looking for a way to differentiate their content by building an engaging experience around it. No one really knows for sure how this work out in the long run, but I do agree with the author in that it is very reminiscent of the CD-ROM era.