[fjtorres]

Pocketbook Global is using this approach to competitive advantage. Seems to be working for them.

The main reason you don't see much movement in this direction (especially across vendors) is that ebook readers are *not* PDAs or webpads or slow computers. That is not why they sell. And the future evolution of the category, if it is to survive long term, is by specializing and optimizing, not by trying to be something else. The future of ebook readers is in going cheap and small, not in adding non-reading features.

Cheap, in particular, means minimizing complexity, both at the hardware level (single-chip readers are coming and soon) and at the software level. Especially the latter because the more sophisticated and more complex the software, the less predictable the interactions.

What you are proposing *is* happening, however; just not to eInk readers. Instead, there is a good chance that WebPads will standardize on Android. Whether this is good or bad depends on what your opinion is of Android and Java but it is going to happen.

So, essentially, the part of the market that wants a small cheap multifunction Tablet will go with a webpad and the associated app catalog and the part of the market that wants an optimized reader device will go with hard-wired eink readers. The middle ground is going to be a very narrow market; its doubtful the added sales will offset the cost of supporting and maintaining the app environment. In other words: the reader market will resemble the DMP market; hardwired pure music players at the low-end and PDA-like pocket computers at the high-end with no significant middle ground.

I'm guessing that by the time somebody cooks up a robust "universal" platform and SDK for eink readers there will be no market left for it to address.