I think they may be aiming for the trend of the "lowest common denominator." The least saturated demographic for tech toys is the folks who are scared of technology. Providing a relatively straightforward, non-scary device, might just get some of them to try it. Consider, that's exactly what the Sony Reader has aimed to do: make a reading device that's both good enough to use, and simple and straightforward enough that non-techies will give it a try.
The approach
seems to be working fairly well for the Reader, it may be too soon to really tell.
I'm not making any evaluation of how well the Foleo might fill that aim, only observing/suggesting that that particular goal
might be what they are
trying to achieve.