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It is an open question whether touch screens are desirable on an e-book reader (we know they are not necessary, since most E-Ink devices don't have one).
One advantage of touch screens is that they provide greater compatibility with existing software, e.g. from Linux (X11) or PDAs. One obvious example is web browsers. The Kindle has a web browser, but it isn't full functioned. It has a scroll bar and a keyboard, which can almost make up for the lack of a touch screen with the right software. Another example is FBReader - which currently requires a pointing device (mouse or touch screen). However, I think it likely that the upcoming Java (e.g. Android) version, FBReaderJ, will remove this requirement.
Much of this is moot, though, because most e-book devices are not open to 3rd party software anyway. So the real question is what particular capability do you require and has the vendor provided it? The fact that a touch screen would allow this capability in theory does not necessarily help in practice.
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