While I personally think that ebooks are here for the long run, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Katsunami's mama. She's probably been around long enough to see things come and go with the times.

The thing about ebooks is that they're great at what they were designed for. They are great for people who buy books and keep them as a part of a personal library. They aren't so great at things that they weren't designed for, such as sharing books. How people respond to what they gain and lose from ebooks is going to make or break the technology. At the moment, it's hard to tell what that reaction will be. It's too early to tell whether people will hold onto a technology that they've just started using or if they will go back to the old ways because it doesn't meet their expectations.