Drachasor,
I think you are likely correct that the first successful device will do more than just read books. I realize that things which are mostly software (like MP3 playing, for instance) are going to cost effectively nothing extra. Nor do I underestimate the value of note jotting -- I don't do so myself, but my wife is finishing a PhD in English Lit., and believe me, there are a LOT of books around the apartment with "jots" in them.
I am in no way saying that these "extras" won't or even shouldn't be there, I further agree that a lot of folks will pay twice as much for a unit that has 42 features they'll never use, over a unit that has only 3 or 4 features they'll use all the time -- people are ... short-sighted that way about some things.
All I'm saying is that I, personally, would rather have the cheaper unit that does just what I need. Back in '96 I had been looking at electronic organizers (as they were then called) for a couple of years. All of the ones I could find were too big, too expensive, and usually did stuff I didn't need, while also not doing stuff I did need. Then came the Pilot 5000. It was exactly what I was looking for: pocket sized, calendar, alarms, notes, phone book, PC Sync and not much else. Pricey? Not compared to the Newton which was my next choice. I bought it on sight. I now carry a ... much newer Palm (which I still refer to as my "Pilot"). As you commented, because the software/OS is so flexible, my current unit does a whole lot more than the original did -- heck, I was adding 3rd party softs to the original within the first 3 months (still run some of them, actually, like eReader
) -- and I'm quite grateful for the flexibility.
But my point is actually the same as yours: the platform is inherently flexible, and these functions can be added for little or no extra cost. And within a few years, the user community itself will provide softs to do things we haven't even thought about
wanting to do yet.
I just would prefer not to pay a
premium price for something that shouldn't cost much to do, and doesn't really add any value to the device's usability. Yes, the "majority" will probably put us all in that position, whether that's a good idea or not is irrelevant -- it will likely happen. I'm not even trying to convince anyone that such a scenario may be self-defeating, only wishing for what seems to me to be a more desirable way.