The first magazines are now rolling out digital editions for the iPad. Among the pioneers is a magazine for which I have been a contributing author: Popular Science.

Founded in 1872, the print edition currently has about 1.4 million subscribers. It has been translated into 30 languages and is sold in at least 45 countries.

I am excited! With an estimated 1.8 million iPads sold since April 3, it looks like Apple has another champion in its stable. The iPad could change magazine and newspaper publishing the way the iPod has changed music retailing.

Unlike previous digital readers such the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and the Sony Reader, Apple’s iPad has a color screen and a much more user friendly, intuitive interface. Turning pages is reminiscent of flipping real paper. This is the first device really suitable for displaying magazine pages.

Although I will always prefer paper, I could not possibly ever have enough storage space for all the magazines I own or would like to keep. Being able to carry a whole, searchable library in my briefcase would be heaven-sent.

But what I am deeply unhappy about is the price Bonnier Group is charging for the downloads. (Bonnier purchased the magazine in 2007 from Time Inc.).

$4.99 an issue? Are you kidding? That’s the same as a paper copy at the newsstand! And there is currently no discounted annual subscription. Come on! You are not marketing print magazines that way! (Introductory 1-year subscription offers for the print edition can get as cheap as $12! One meager buck a month! You could probably pay for it by looking for lost change on the sidewalk.

Not good. I hope that if sales for the iPad edition are not impressive, those in charge at Bonnier will realize that the culprit is not the lack of demand, but their unrealistic pricing policy!