[Auricle]

As a single function device, ereaders have a limited appeal and market and once that market is saturated, their sales will depend on customers replacing their devices. The sales growth of tablets/smart phones is in a large part due to their multi-function nature - as new functions/features are available, they drive demand for newer, better tables/smartphones so there is a huge market of people upgrading their tables/phones every year or two. And this is also helped by the 1-2 year life expectancy of smartphones given how heavily they are used. Lastly, the number of people who want a cell phone is many time bigger than the number of people who want an ereader so it's just a bigger market.

So, anybody who was expecting the ereader sales to look like tablet/smartphone sales was misguided, and any company who was expecting to build a business based on that is now realizing the error of their ways. But does that mean there is no sustainable market or business model? No, but there may be a closing window of opportunity for the industry as the multifunction tablet/smartphone industry may and will probably evolve to the point that having a separate single purpose ereader becomes truly redundant (i.e. the advantages of an ereader over a tablet/smart phone disappear - those devices become lighter, longer battery life, better screens, etc. etc.).

To me, the reasons that I bought an ereader over a tablet currently still remain - lighter weight, better battery life, better screen for reading text, etc. But since it's a single function device, to me as long as it still serves that single function, I don't see myself replacing the device until it dies - which hopefully won't be for a few more years.

That said, the software *in* the ereader can and has been steadily improving and many of the suggestions given in this discussion relate more to the ereader software. And if a ereader company can evolve the software side of their business to the point that new software features will make me want to upgrade to a newer ereader, I may upgrade before my current ereader dies. But again, as long as it remains a single function device, the companies are constrained as to what kind of new features they can add - at the end of the day it's still a reading device, not a tablet.

Anyway, just my rambling thoughts.