[nikkie]

Think about all those e-books you're buying, that won't be making the transition off of the iPad to your new device.

@Steve I think you'll find most of the iPad owners agree with you about the problem with the iBooks DRM. I personally have no intention of buying books from iBooks until either

(i) iBooks removes DRM (probably years away)
or
(ii) Someone cracks fairplay for ebooks

Then I know my books will go with me no matter what device I move to. Being locked into a DRM is a very real concern that most iPad owners do account for in their purchasing habits. Most of us don't purchase from iBooks, but instead use the B&N reader, Kindle, or any of the non-DRM readers. We feel far less locked-in in many case than folks who prefer dedicated readers which only support one DRM format.

Lock-in isn't just a problem for the iPad. Typically, it's far less of a problem on the iPad because almost all of the other DRMs can be read on the it. Kobo is planning on introducing adept DRM support to their app soon, and B&N is releasing an app for the iPad specifically. Then the complement will be complete.

Creating proprietary apps for one device is leaving a lot of other devices unsupported.

Not really. There are ePub readers for most platforms available. Less true for DRM-specific apps, but they exist too. In general, you'll find that the more likely a device is to having an operating system that is used on multiple devices (Android for instance), the more likely it is that developers will be porting their eBooks apps to it. Most developers want to minimize their effort/audience ratio, and won't write for platforms that only encompass one device. If you really want your device to be supported, purchase a device with an OS that is on many other devices and is very open. (Or buy an Apple device. Either way.) Android seems like a safe bet right now.

Think about how you'll feel when all the apps you loaded into your iPad can't be ported into your new device, or at least, not without paying for it all over again.

The apple devices don't require re-purchase to use on a different device. Purchasing once on your account is sufficient.

And all of the eBook readers I've got which are DRM-specific are free, so there's no reason to "pay again" for them.

Now if we're talking about apps that aren't book readers, sure. If I buy Scrabble for my iPad and later the Android platform is the "shizzle" for EA/Hasbro, I'll have to buy it again. But that's the risk you take with any device. It's not unique to the iPad.

On a more sympathetic point....

I bought a Brew phone a few years ago from Verizon that was very expensive and very impressive. Unfortunately, the platform was closed and expensive to start development on, so there were essentially NO apps for it worth purchasing. Once I realized this, I decided my next purchase would be a phone that I knew had good development support.

How many e-book apps are being readied for Windows-based smartphones and PDAs, for instance?

They are coming. The idea that a smart-phone could support apps and be a good platform for apps is really not that old. The iPhone/iPad are just the vanguard of this movement.

So if you want support for App X on your device? Join a bandwagon. Doesn't have to be the Apple one. Could be the Android one. But don't expect a device that doesn't have a well-supported app store and a lot of customers already to get an app.