[SensualPoet]

I would not underestimate the tablet market and its influence on the ebook market in the coming months. Since most tablets support Kindle, Kobo and B&N, and one tablet supports those as well as Apple, the nirvana some folks are looking for has arrived: one device, all formats.

Both Amazon and Kobo are aggressively building the "one purchase, read anywhere" model and between them the two main formats are well covered internationally. B&N is also in the race, although constrains itself to the US market; and Sony, alas, continues to believe touchy-feely is more important than connectivity and that it really wants to sell devices, not content.

As much as I love my Kindle 3, and use my Kobo regularly (I'm actually buying more ebooks at Kobobooks than Amazon): down the road I can easily see a future in my household for both a Kindle 4 and a tablet that plays both my Kindle and Kobo purchases seamlessly. Amazon's ebook sales to customers who don't own a Kindle absolutely underscores how important the seamless purchase and use of the content is: the device is secondary. It may well be that "good enough" for a device (as long as it is connectable) is, well, good enough. But the bookstore will ultimately drive the success.

Or, as fjtorres might put it: "it's the attach rate, baby!".