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I think the US press is stuck on this idea of new gadgets replacing each other, and particularly new, multifunction, expensive gadgets taking over the world - largely because of the marketing potential.
They still sell radios, don't they? Yet I could listen to radio on my mobile phone or on my MP3 player if I wanted to - but when I'm working in my office, I turn on the radio so I don't have to stick those earbud thingees in my ears.
They still sell cameras (yeah, I know - I've seen another article predict the end of dedicated cameras, too), yet most mobile phones these days will take pictures, too. If you care about the pictures you take, you have a dedicated camera of some variety.
We just sold a really spiffy netbook (we sell computers) that comes with a touch-screen. The screen swivels around and folds back onto the keyboard, making a tablet computer that is just about the size of an e-reader, though just a bit thicker. Something like that strikes me as far more practical than the current crop of tablets and I may just get myself one for traveling. (Wouldn't use it for reading, though - I won't give up my eInk based reader which I find much more restful on the eyes.)
Ultimately they may recombine some functions to create a different sort of reader, but not everyone wants an all-singing, all-dancing tablet-telephone-tv-reading machine that also shines your shoes and tucks you in at night.
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