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Originally Posted by DarkScribe
It plateaued but not because of lack of interest, simply because it was saturated. Everyone who could afford one already had one. They wouldn't upgrade until their old one failed.
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Most people who I know well regard their eReader in the same manner as they regard a home appliance. Useful, valued, appreciated, they wouldn't like to be without it, but like any other appliance unless it fails they are unlikely to to upgrade. The same demographic who doesn't upgrade their phone until they either change carrier or it fails to work is at the core of eReader ownership.
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And that, by the way, is not a good thing from the manufacturers' point of view. A product that even its satisfied users only purchase once a decade isn't what succeeds in the tech industry today. In any case, your appliance comparison doesn't really work, for the simple reason that home appliances are, by and large, universally required items. Virtually every household would need them, therefore the sales are assured. eReaders are catering to a much smaller niche. So when you take an already small niche, and then couple that with the very saturation that you mentioned, the outlook is not great.
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By the way, why the recent interest in dual screens from tablet manufacturers if they are winning this imaginary war of yours? If people are truly happy to read on a high res LCD screen, why bother with an ePaper screen on the same device?
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Why indeed? That question is the very reason we are not likely to see any such device in the near future. Trying to support the validity of eInk by relating it to vaporware doesn't really do a lot to further your point.
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You see, even the tablet manufacturers don't think that they are winning.
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Um, yeah. Right. Great point. Tablet manufacturers are trembling in their boots about the PRS-T2. Watch out, iPad.