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The iPod is clearly very successful, but not really superior to all MP3 players. There are still other MP3 players out there, and many prefer the model they have over iPods because they are better designed for the way they listen to music. Similarly, e-books could see a single reader (like the Sony) become the most popular reader, but there will always be room for other readers that tailor the experience for the user.
Fact is, iTunes did not create the MP3 market, it merely capitalized on it, in conjunction with a player that the service was optimized for, the iPod. MP3s were already there, already standardized, and waiting for a successfully profitable delivery mechanism. The e-book market needs exactly that, a successful delivery mechanism, whether it is one store/website, or a method shared by many stores/sites.
A unifying format is clearly the next needed step. ePub would be a good common format, with readers either designed to automatically unpack and open the files, or sold with SW that converts ePub to their native format (I'd prefer the former as a sensible solution, but really, either one works).
You may doubt the use of phones and iPods for e-book reading, but it's already happening, going like gangbusters in the Japanese market. It's hard to imagine reading on a smaller screen size if you haven't tried it, but like so many other things, if you want to do it, you can often get used to it. I've gone from a paperback to a PDA screen (one-third the size), and I have no problem with it.
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