One reason tablets and phones have advanced so much in the same time that e-ink ereaders have gone a lot slower is that tablets and phones were made by companies wanting to make a profit selling tablets and phones and people wanted them.
Ereaders, on the other hand, are made by companies to help them sell books. They believe their best move isn't to make money on the devices but to sell them as cheap as possible so they can sell more books. Since the devices aren't what they make their money on their makers aren't putting as much energy into improving them.
Another reason e-ink ereaders aren't selling as well and aren't being made in the same variety as phones and tablets is because of phones and tablets. In fact the same is now becoming true of tablets. They've pretty much stopped improving in recent years because of larger phones.
An easy way to sum it up is simply lack of demand. Ereaders used to be big sellers. Now people are reading more on their phones and ereaders don't sell as well as they used to. I doubt if anyone is happy about this but that's how it is and it's easy enough to see why.
Barry
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