Pfft, I could've sworn everyone got over the whole misconception that Ebook Readers Will Save Newspapers and Periodicals From Total Doom after the Kindle DX came out.
Seems to me that anyone thinking along those lines is either clutching at straws, or just scraping the bottom of the Ebook Hype Barrel.
After all, once upon a time the music industry was convinced that ringtones were going to be a substantial revenue generator, but now that the novelty is wearing off, people are figuring out how to make their own ringtones, and money is tight, ringtone sales are dropping.
I don't see much of a future for tablets. Battery life will suck, they'll be too big to use as a phone or a PDA, too underpowered and hard to type on to challenge netbooks, and far too expensive since wireless carriers won't have an incentive to subsidize them like they do cell phones. By the time they've hit their 2nd or so iterations, color eInk screens may be shipping. I'm sure a few tablets will hit the market, but I expect they will be a niche product.