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I think because e-readers are generally successful in replicating an existing technology (books), and there hasn't been much meaningful improvement in the book functionality that they're not able to copy. People are also generally satisfied with the battery life and lightness of e-readers. I don't think they're entirely like can openers though. Just that not everyone needs a can opener and they haven't really improved the latest ones.
Smartphones, on the other hand, are a new category, and if they're copying anything, it's computers (and the ARM chips are still way behind the x86 in power, so they're not really there yet). Plus, there's a lot of room to improve on, in size and battery life, screen, etc. And, the smartphone market is not saturated yet, while the e-reader market in the US may be.
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