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Germans love their electronic gadgets if there's some sort of added value to it: convenience, potential to arouse envy, coolness factor.
Since most Germans don't read that much, a reading device doesn't strike a chord in them. If I read one book during the holidays and one during Christmas days, I don't need a dedicated reading device.
A dedicated reading device still is seen as rather needless or a waste of money, so you won't arouse envy with it. If a German buys something expensive, it's to tease the people he knows. So what's the idea of possessing something hardly anyone around you is interested in?
Last: coolness factor. Let's face it, most reading devices are not cool. The iPod is cool, the iPhone definitely is, a flat screen TV is cool, a brand new car definitely is - a b&w device just for reading isn't.
As down-to-earth as we Germans usually are, we need an emotional reson to buy an electronic gadget. And most Germans are very emotional about "them books", even if they don't read them.
Germany still considers itself to be "the land of poets and thinkers", and so you'd rather find a remark like "Goethe would never have touched this!" instead of "hey, that's a new turn towards reading!"
Considering this, the txtr is up for some hard times ...
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