The last thing publishers of business magazines would want to see, with ad pages hurting so, is another magazine in their fold, or so one would think.

Not so. When Conde Nast rolls out Conde Nast Portfolio in next May, executives of existing business titles, along with others in media, believe it will actually invigorate the field, at the least bringing in new advertisers to the category. It should bring some glamour as well.

It will also quiet the doubters, they believe. Says Bill Kupper, president of Business Week: "It means that for all those doomsayers saying that business publications are going totally extinct, it's just not true."

"I think the fact that Conde Nast has plans to launch a business magazine indicates that there's room for growth in this sector for all of us," says Jay Goldberg, publishing director for Inc. and Fast Company. "It reminds everyone that magazines are still relevant and a critical part of the media mix."

Conde Nast Portfolio's launch was officially announced last week, to great industry buzz, after months of speculation, with David Carey as publisher and edited by Joanne Lipman, a former Wall Street Journal editor.

But while Conde Nast is saying Portfolio will be a true business magazine, not a lifestyle publication, most people in media do not see it as a direct competitor to the Big Three: Forbes, BusinessWeek and Fortune. Instead, they're seeing Portfolio as a Conde Nast take on business--fashion-forward, lifestyle-leaning and stylish, if not a lifestyle magazine as such.

"I would not expect anything that looks anything like Forbes, Fortune or BusinessWeek, which is smart because you would not want to go head-to-head with those guys," says Reed Phillips, managing partner at the media investment bank DeSilva and Phillips. "I'm expecting a very different approach to a business magazine, an approach that will say Conde Nast. It will share the high quality of The New Yorker and the more interesting in-depth profiles of Vanity Fair."

As a publishing house with many titles, says Phillips, Conde Nast will be in a position to offer packages to advertisers who might not otherwise consider appearing in a business title.

But Jim Berrien, president and publisher of Forbes, notes that over time there have been a slew of new business and personal finance titles but that none has yet managed to break the lock the Big Three had long held in the market. He doubts Conde Nast Portfolio will change that. He does not think it will necessarily draw the C-level executives that read Forbes.

"We recognize that we serve a very time-pressed marketplace, which is why our stories are edited so tightly. Whether there is room in an executive's day for a 12-page feature remains to be seen," Berrien says.

"What will be the challenge for them is to convince the IBMs that they have an audience that makes decisions. They're not going to have any trouble attracting Armani—they'll have a bunch of affluent men— but they may not have the decision-makers."

Still, almost everyone in the sector agrees that buzz about the category can only be a good thing. According to BusinessWeek's Kupper, lifestyle coverage is a growing opportunity in the business category. BusinessWeek just added a weekly column by wine writer Robert Parker, and it has increased its personal business coverage.

But Kupper says the need to keep stories brief and concise is more pressing than ever. "In today's hectic, frenetic world, BusinessWeek is not your father's BusinessWeek anymore. It's quick, to the point and punchy. We're living in an era where news dies quickly," he says.

Even after a rough spring for business titles, with ad pages down 3.6 percent through April, both Kupper and Berrien are optimistic about the prospects for the category, which regardless of recent trends still commands vast ad dollars.

"All three of us," says Berrien, "deliver access to the most important, most influential individuals in the world."

Media people are expecting Portfolio to expand that universe.

"I think it will help restore a lot of attention to the business magazine category, which has suffered a loss of ad pages at a time when certain sectors are starting to see a comeback, including the financial, technology and real estate sectors," says Steve Greenberger, chief strategic marketing officer at DJG Marketing.

Alan Jurmain, media director at Avrett, Free & Ginsberg, says he hasn't yet seen Portfolio's pitch but has expectations for an altogether new take on business writing. So he expects a new flock of business advertisers to join those already in the Conde Nast fold.

"As long as they attract the right eyeballs, the business advertising will be there, and I think a lot of consumer advertising will be there as well. If they can crack that [cross-category advertising], then that becomes the holy grail."