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Neko, although I think you've nailed most of the points, I would not pay hardcover price for an e-edition of a book when it first comes out.
I remember the days of LPs, and during that time, tape cassettes would be released with (or soon after) LPs. But no one charged the same for a cassette as for an album... the quality was too disperate to make it a deal. At the time, the music industry considered cassettes a throwaway product, and they risked the ease of copying, but they produced them anyway, found a good price point, and hoped for the best.
Sooner or later, the print industry will reach the same conclusions as music did with cassettes, create their own e-product (instead of letting Potterphiles hand-scan them), and adjust their prices. It'll happen faster if they see it as a viable revenue stream... in other words, if enough people are asking for them.
Yes, this could have happened sooner. Yes, the print industry is dragging this out painfully. But sooner or later, technology will make it so easy for people to scan their own books and share digital copies, that the industry will have to provide their own e-books to prevent that increase in piracy and profit loss. We're getting really close with the new book-scanning HW reviewed on this site, and with better flatbed scanners at home. It's only a matter of time.
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