World's first iPad-only magazine to launch next week - will it be fantastic or a flop?

Many newspapers and magazines are already developing iPad versions of their publication to satisfy a growing demand from tablet consumers. But Richard Branson, billionaire entrepeneur and founder of the Virgin group of companies, is poised to unveil an iPad-exclusive magazine next week.

It isn't dubbed as an experimental project, but the exclusively digital magazine will nonetheless be testing some relatively unchartered waters. Can a magazine stay afloat with no print counterpart, and limited to a single computing device?

It's difficult for me personally to fight my bias - I adamantly cling to magazines delivered by mail and hardcover books - but digital-only publications may very well be the next generation of content. Environmentalists will surely be pleased in a paperless world, as well as online-ad leaders like Google, who will benefit from innovating a very dynamic ad realm. But people will expect a digital-only magazine to be dirt cheap, yet still deliver the high-quality content consumers expect from glossy monthlys.

Can Virgin strike the right balance or will this iPad publication be D.O.A.?