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I think it depends on what you consider "dedicated." A reasonable sized device for reading books isn't probably what most people are looking for in a work machine (or a game machine), but might have overlap with the PDA market. I could actually do most of what I need to do with a computer on the iLiad, if the right software were available for it. Very few of my usual computing tasks require a high framerate or fast processor. In most cases I'd happily trade those features for the ability to read the screen outside.
Amazon spends a huge amount on shipping. They know it's one of the things that sometimes drives their business to local retailers -- shipping costs and time. Take a look at the deals they've been offering on shipping all along -- no shipping for a certain order size, flat 2-day shipping fee for a year ("Amazon Prime"), etc. If Amazon can get their huge customer base to switch to a device that is easy to read on and can provide more or less instant gratification to customers with no shipping costs, they'd be fools not to jump at it, and I don't think they are fools. I could easily see the device priced at the same cost as the "Amazon Prime" plan, for marketing reasons-- plus some amount that you get back as a "rebate" coupon for Amazon digital goods. Amazon makes up the cost on those goods. (Which means they probably won't be much cheaper than they are now.) I also think Amazon has the leverage to "encourage" publishers to offer more of their inventory in eBook format, if they can show the market is there.
Would this be the be-all, end-all for eBooks? Probably not. But it could be a big step forward, in terms of popularizing the idea of eBooks. A later generation may be able to make both the books and the readers cheap.
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