A few clicks on your iPad and there you have today’s headlines and new scoops. According to a report by The New York Times, around 49 percent of all tablet users utilize the device to get the latest info and read through the pages of the digital magazines. This growing trend in digital media is what most companies like Conde Nast is riding into. Late last year, the organization garnered a funding worth $500 million for their online publishing empire expansion. However, there is one thing that stands between total dominance and doing well—the enormous file size for downloading and storage.

Ned May, an analyst for Outsell, a research firm focused on publishing and technology noted the shortage of attention by publishers on large-size issue, saying, “Publishers are not putting enough thought into delivery and the constraints around that. In many ways it harkens back to the early days of the Net where people had to wait 15 minutes for a single image to download.”

Before 2010 closed, the iPad lost its ground in online publications and posted a significant setback on digital issues revenue. The culprit?  Huge file sizes, which leads to longer downloading time. A 200-300 megabyte file would take around 40 minutes to download—a time that could have taken you to the next book shop to purchase your desired magazine (talk about on-demand content). This reverting-back-to-old-school-slow-downloading-era may push consumers to just go back to print media.

With this unsolved dilemma still knocking at the door, Apple is not passing on the opportunity to penetrate the digital publications. The iPhone maker has just launched The Daily– a collection of newspapers everyday.  It is quite interesting and surprising that Apple involved itself deeply in this project. They are relentless in campaigning for this digital media offspring, bearing in mind that weekly subscription will just be at 99 cents. Hence, they have to attract more subscribers to earn more revenue–something Apple is certainly after when it comes to digital publications.