According to an article at
PC Magazine (Engadget was original source) B&N is going to discontinue the Nook 3G. It not clear exactly why. Is it that they aren't selling enough of this model? Is it that picking up the 3G tab is too expensive? If it is the latter then will Amazon also want to transition to a WiFi only model?
My own guess to my own questions is No, Yes, and Doubtful. I loved Whispernet when I first bought my Kindle, but I bought a Wifi only model a few months ago and can say I really don't miss Whispernet at all. Although I still don't think Whispernet is going away any time soon. However, my guess is that eReaders will be closer to a color tablet in the future (Kindle 4 or 5), and when that happens we'll have to pay for a data plan if we want internet access.