Edit: Geez, long winded rant to follow. Just skip down to the next post. I sound to much like an Art Bell caller in this one but have to get it out of my craw.
Not necessarily. You might be thinking if it like our esteemed article author when he brought up the thought that people don't want to get their entertainment on screens. ("Curl up with a screen" I think. I would have to reread it.)

In this regard he is already wrong since the last few years has seen an immense surge of screens for all aspects of life. Even more true with those whippersnappers with their "PSDStindos" and "video-peapods".

It doesn't seem that the problem will be people don't want to read from a screen (assuming the screen is as clear as type) but that there is a generation coming up that, well, has very little REASON to read with their current lifestlyes and so most of the sales will continue to be based on an existing demographic.

For many of the younger people I know much of their lives are completely portable and if it doesn't lend itself to instantaneous use it gets regulated to "sometimes" and "occasional" status. They don't carry their CDs with them, they don't drag a corded phone around, many already have laptops with DVDs ripped in them, carry immediate gratification in the form of hand-held game consoles so WHY would they even look at carrying around books and magazines like we do? (pant, pant. Must remember to take breaths...)

I suppose what I mean is that the industry has a current demographic and will continue to serve that demographic to the best of its ability. Every other demographic will be, at best, ignored or, at worst, actively resisted. No matter how we would like it to be otherwise, at least some small part of the publishing industry has to look at ebooks as "ebooks" and not as just an inferior version of p-books before this format will grow.

One good thing is that the publishing people are hidebound, not stupid. If they find that their income is continuing to shrink as their reader bases, er, "permanently lose interest in reading" while certain other sectors are stable or even showing some growth (no matter how small), they WILL take a serious look at it. It may take a few times for them to see it correctly but they will see it. (Example: see music industry, subheadings "Digital music is just a fad" and "Why are our customers leaving?")

Another good thing is that (I hate to say it) we are greedy. (No, I will NOT quote that stupid movie.) This means that the first well designed reader that teams with a high content provider will very probably be considered the new electronic "gotta-have" as long as the price is not out of line for appliances in the same service line AND it delivers on its hype more than it stalls on its promise.

The Sony ereader is a great reader for books, long or short. It promised a good reading experience (which it delivered) and a wealth of new and exciting books through their Connect store (which....er, well, the eReader is still a really good reader). An example of a strong and stable product hindered by it's own partner.

The other big name (right now) is Iliad. With a larger screen and more features it can be viewed as a reader for people with more than just the need for a paperback fix. People can use it for magazines, textbooks, reference materials and business use. Searchable, writable, hackable (doorstopable), it does so much that Sonys doesn't! Why this device alone could open vistas of new and easily accessed content! The only problem is....sigh....content is still not there. Mobipocket will be a huge jump for it but it still is nothing that you can't get on your cell phone which means right now it's in the same boat as its little e-ink compadre.

What could open it up? For the smaller reader, just a solid source of easily acquired book material, current and long-tail, would put it in more homes and more hands and making it a staple for reading households like Tivos are now (different devices but really do the same thing: make media accessible on demand). For the larger, a good partnership with media that shows it in its best light (magazines, textbooks, newspapers)and in a large quantity (remember? greeeedddd. We like getting lots for little. Even if the clubkey was a bit expensive). Or a couple good deals with a widespread industry (education, manufacturing, medical, take your pick as long as they position themselves where they are seen as needed) could bring them into massive contact with the very people who would benefit the most and provide the biggest demand for new content from publishers.

I suppose what this long-winded tirade is really trying to say is that the article has it wrong. Cripes, most articles gleefully moaning about the "failure of ebooks" are wrong since they continually harp on the lacks and shortcomings of the various readers ("Oh sure, it was easy to read but it didn't keep my schedules) instead of the real reason. The real reason ebooks are failing? Simple. There aren't any ebooks (percentage wise). There are some electronic versions of paper books but not really any ebooks.

An ebook is not just a copy of a paper book. It's something else. For something like the Sony, it's a clean layout with good formatting, an almost complete catalog copy of what's existing in bookstores now and at least 2 format versions (for print size) and a price for content that lets you make those impulse buys (like you would any paperback) and come back for more. For something like the Iliad and its different user needs, a formatting altered and cleaned for prober display, a true table of contents (for both magazine-newspapers and texts-docs both), easily accessible AND updatable from a server (WHY don't you have a deal with Starbucks yet for wireless newspapers from around the world yet? WHY?) would be a must. (Something else needed by a device with the capacity of the Iliad would be an electronic home library for organizing all the information that gathers on and from a constant access to information. Well, if it existed to be accessed, that is. Whoops, there's that content problem again.)

Basically: Ebooks are only failing because there are no ebooks. The desire is here, the need is here and the technology is here. Only the ebooks themselves are missing.