I think that's a fairly common attitude in the tech world, too. One of my complaints about reviews of tech is many are primarily concerned with what's new. They often give only a little mention of how good a product is at the things all such products do.
If it's not new it's not anything.
However, in this situation he's also completely wrong in saying that ebooks bring nothing new. They bring light. They bring lots of books in less space than print books need for each single book. They bring the ability to easily get your next book from any nearby Wifi or from anywhere in the case of my 3G Kindles. They bring a built-in dictionary. They bring text search. They bring adjustable fonts.
Ebooks just might be the biggest improvement in reading in history. Hachette might consider renaming itself to Buggy Whip Publishing.
By the way, a couple of years ago I re-read "The Magnificent Ambersons" which dealt with pretty much the same kind of arguments related to the automobile. When it was first introduced most people didn't see the point of it other than as a novelty. The focus of the story was about following the changes in thought and in the nature of society itself brought about as cars became common. They weren't so different from what's happening today. It's a worthy read for anyone interested in the ways tech changes our lives.
Barry