After a decade marked by awkward transitions to Web formats, publishers have a chance at redemption. The success of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad and the broad popularization of portable Web devices mean that there may be money in magazines and newspapers again.

Sweeping aside concerns over Apple and others’ steep take of subscriptions sales aside — Apple takes a 30% of each sale and subscription fee, while Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) takes just 10% through One Pass – publishers’ best bet for monetizing magazine-style content is in tablets.

A chief reason behind Apple’s app store success is because the low cost of apps has recreated the ecology of a newsstand in a portable device. Where the impulse purchases of the past were a pack of gum, a bottle of water, and the latest issue of People, they are now a download of Angry Birds, a Coldplay single, and, hopefully, a 99-cent weekly subscription to a tab-paper like The Daily, Apple’s venture with News Corp. (NYSE:NWS).

Consumers are willing to part with a dollar in app stores in a way they won’t on PCs, because, if for no other reason, it’s so easy to do.

The question now is who will benefit most in the coming months as periodicals flock to connected handhelds, and platform providers like Apple and Google compete to offer the most consumer and publisher friendly service. The following three companies stand to reap big rewards:

Time Warner (NYSE:TWX)

The company’s Time Inc. division was already at odds with Apple before the subscription service, or even The Daily, were realities. In some ways, the conflict grew from Apple’s new rigid rules requiring digital publishers to offer their products through Apple’s app store. Looking to release iPad editions of Sports Illustrated and other publications on the iPad, Time scoffed at Apple’s demands of a 30% take on every sale. It was also rumored that Apple wanted access to subscriber information, which didn’t go down well with the publisher.

Its has led to numerous deals with competing platforms. In the past week, Google announced a deal to bring Time publications to Android and Hewlett-Packard (NASDAQ:HPQ) made Time publications a key feature when it unveiled the new TouchPad tablet PC. Time is moving fast to have its digital content accessible to everyone, and it should pay off with healthy sales.

News Corp.

The tabloid-paper push could mean a whole new revenue stream for the company under the right conditions. The Daily‘s potential is just one arm of what could be a grand strategy overall. If the paper does gain a strong subscription base, the proprietary technology News Corp. developed with Apple could be licensed out. Smaller publicly traded newspaper publishers like Gannett (NYSE:GCI) and Lee Enterprises (NYSE:LEE) could avoid the expense of developing new software. News Corp. would reap the benefits of big licensing fees while other publishers have a shot of retaining readership as those readers shift to digital formats.

Apple

The Wall Street Journal suggested Wednesday that Apple is at risk for an antitrust investigation into its current subscription policies. In the meantime, Apple has the digital periodical business by the nose. With 70% of the tablet market under its control, any publisher looking to make an impact needs Apple. Time Inc.’s willingness to dance with everyone else at the ball may work for them, but everyone else is at the company’s mercy. That means Apple will be taking a 30% cut of many subscriptions, and every other app sale, for the foreseeable future.

If there is a loser in the current setup, it’s Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). The company’s early lock on digital publications through its Kindle service is going to get be broken by the shift in technology. The company needs to get tablet-ready publications into its Kindle store as soon as possible — or release a tablet Kindle.

At the time of publication, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.