Hide the women and children: the iTablet is coming. And as the querulous future of magazine publishing continues to nip at the heels of this hallowed medium, technology like this can’t seem to come soon enough.

Both design and the concept of content might — might — change dramatically in today’s first-world countries. In trying to dictate that future, two major publishers have partnered with design firms in hopes of planting the flag first.

Enter Time, Inc. with New York’s The Wonderfactory, and Bonnier R&D with London’s BERG.

The Same

Both ideas brought to the table are similar, in that they completely eschew the klunky “digital magazine engine” page-flipping model championed by groups like the UK’s Ceros Media. Instead they go for a more honest and inventive approach, completely reimagining how users would want to interact with rich media content when given the chance.

But Different

Time and The Wonderfactory seem to be going for an actual hardware model approach, instead of a software platform which could sit across multiple devices (like the iTablet, or whatever Apple decides to dub its juggernaut). Nevertheless, they couldn’t have picked a better model for change than the content-rich Sports Illustrated:

In contrast, Bonnier and BERG are content to muse at length about how a software platform like this might work, and why. It’s a bit more of a holistic approach, and to date the general speculation seems to be that they’re hoping to latch onto upcoming platforms like Apple’s, instead of going rogue and following in Barnes & Noble’s footsteps with the Nook. Their concept looks more like this:

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Either direction isn’t going to change publishing forever. Even Jack Schulze at BERG slyly admits the majority of the world still reads print material, so print is here to stay for quite a long time. The sheer cost of “developing” magazines in this fashion going forward would prohibit axing all print editions of Popular Science tomorrow, but still — food for thought? It’s a long way down the rabbit hole. We’ll see where we end up.