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Those in the scientific community need compelling reasons to switch to eReaders. Lack of "must have" publications in both ebook and pbook formats will delay the transition process. O'Reilly is to be commended for offering both formats now, but, in general, O'Reilly is not in the top tier of technical publishers. As certain Amazon reviewers have stated, the books are written in too chatty a manner. It would be nice to present a complex algorithm in its most simple terms, but O'Reilly's nutshell books just don't hack it, imho.
The second reason why I believe that today's eReaders are destined to remain in the periphery of reading devices for technical matter is the lack of good mobile pdf software and displays. Adobe Reader is the default application for reading pdf files. Yet, it looks as though most eReader manufacturers implement only a subset of the features that Adobe Reader provides. The iPad is not ready for prime time when it comes to pdf files. No application correctly renders a simple physics paper I cited in another thread. The Kindle 2 handles the paper properly (Einstein would be proud), but the only reading mode that is tolerable is landscape. K2 has problems with large pdf art books, and more often than not, you'll get a warning that not all elements of the page could be displayed. My conclusion after sampling the latest breed of eReaders is to keep your $750 laptops. They kill the eReaders in terms of value, on the vast number of technical documents in existence today. Who wants to read a document with missing or mangled elements?
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