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I love the tablet arguments that people use against ereaders and just get all weak in the knees whenever I'm told I was dumb for adopting technology early. There are a few arguments that authors of blogs (like the one being contested in this thread) fail to understand:
1 - Early adopters of technology help the market to realize trends, and thereby spend more money on future development and better products. Advising people that they should have held on to their receipts is ignorant and completely devoid of any economic understanding. The money I and many others spent on a Kindle 1 gave Amazon a reason to develop the Kindle 2 and DX. The success of the Sony readers lead Amazon into the market. The success of the Kindles brought B&N into the market with the Nook. All of these products will spark the next wave. When people invest in the existing tech regardless of whether it is "perfect" they help the manufacturers to realize the validity of the product, which will lead to future improvements to the initial designs. Jumping into the existing tech - even when it's not perfect - is an intelligent decision if you support the concepts of the technology and hope that it can be improved upon. Sitting on the fence and pointing fingers at those of us who support the market does nothing but give you weird dimples in your ass.
2 - Not everyone who reads digital content wants an all-in-one device like a tablet. Many - if not a vast majority - of us who purchased ereaders want very simply to read. I don't need gps or internet chat or color video playback or music. I want to read on a device that feels natural, fades into the background, and doesn't distract me from the joys of reading. If a new tablet came out that added 101 additional options, I probably wouldn't buy it because I don't need all of the additional bells and whistles, i.e. I would not support the further development of that kind of reading device because it's no longer about reading. Simply put, that device would NOT suite my needs. If another device comes out that further improves the reading experience, I will gladly put up the money to support those improvements.
The author of the blog states that he reads very often. I congratulate him on that, but I sincerely wonder if he understands the level of eyestrain he will endure if he choses a "tablet" over an e-ink display. Knowing how LCD and OLED screens affect the eyes, I would never even imagine reading as much on those devices as I do on my ereader. I suppose it's great if you have an imaginary apple table that cost you $1000 to read books on and play music and carry files and check email and update facebook and twitterfy your life to the world while youtubing a guy getting kicked in the kiwis.....but while you're recharging the device every night and wondering why your eyesight is failing.....those of us with dedicated ereaders will still be reading. And we'll still be able to do all the other stuff....on our laptops.
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