Many readers like to read in bed--I know I do. I have no desire to take my multi-purpose/ebook-supporting laptop to bed every nite. I'll keep my single-purpose Sony Reader that goes everywhere and gives me many books to choose from (free from the library and paid from the online bookstore). The rest of you nay-sayers can get eye strain! BAH!

@emo I'm not sure that the alternative to a dedicated ebook reader is a laptop. I keep my phone next to my bed - I use it as an alarm clock. I also use it while in bed to read (and write) tweets, stream video and play games.

I have to admit that I don't really use it to read books, but I can certainly imagine doing this.

Whether this means that there is no market for dedicated ebook readers. Perhaps the dedicated readers with e-ink screens are a 'premium' product that some will invest in above their multi-purpose device - this is the kind of behaviour we currently see with cameras (although whether this will be sustained over time isn't yet clear).

If your multi-purpose device was as small as your single-purpose e-reader, and had as good a display... why would you be any more reluctant to take it to bed than a single purpose device? I don't get it.

"and had as good a display" is the catch there I think... I like E-Ink (though there is room for improvement); I don't want to read in my bed on an LCD. It may be the question of display is the question of: What's the right tool for the job?

Gee, I read my laptop in bed. And play games on it and Facebook and tweet with it. I do it the same way I like to read books. With it propped up and me laying on my stomach. And I will switch positions. I am flexable and adaptable. However, I do look forward to a smaller multi-use device. I know we have smart phones, but I want something just a smiddgen bigger than a phone and a squidge smaller than a laptop.

For a dead technology, I see quite a lot of people using single purpose e-readers on the subway and not laptops to read e-books. Granted I also see a lot of folks reading with their mobile phone / e-mail gadgets but I think the reason why people like the readers is because of the screen. As ksclarke mentioned, I hate and avoid reading for long periods of time on an LCD computer screen. When I have something long to read, I always print it out. I would prefer reading on an e-reader, even if it was a single purpose device, because of the screen. Same deal with mobile phones, plus their screens are way too tiny. Now if the new Sony Daily Edition (coming out in December) would go the way of Apple's i-Pods and offer the same wireless connectivity, flexible file format, and open source capabilities at more reasonably priced variety of models, I would buy. Bottom line is, I don't think it's a competition between laptops, mobile phones, and e-readers - people will buy whatever they're most comfortable with.

I agree with Roy. These devices never passed the cost-benefit test for me.. clear example of form over function.

This is another step in the process of convergence, which people have been talking about for years (back to the 1990s). The fact is, Moore's Law suggests that devices will get smaller and more powerful and therefore can do more things. The person who hits on the perfect size and combination of functions will make billions. For example, I didn't adopt DVR technology until it combined comfortably with digital cable; the resulting device is not nearly as good as TiVo but at least it didn't add to the boxes underneath my TV. A tablet reader should be able to play movies and perhaps have a keyboard for writing and email so you don't need both a Kindle and a laptop.

Roy is right, by golly. The concept was bogus from the start. In fact, it's so old and discredited that I feel like it's Zombie-time whenever it rears its head back up.

We've been through this so many times -- only in the earlier version, it was Sony trying to hawk its model.

It didn't work then. It won't work now. There are only so many devices your average citizen is willing to carry and pace muppetzinspace, those devices are overwhelmingly smartphones and some version of the laptop.

I don't want to pay extra for functions I will never use. I don't want to play games (I have a PC and a DS), I don't want to listen to music (I have MP3 players and a stereo system), I don't want e-mail (I have a PC, a laptop, and a small internet device)--I want to READ. On e-ink. I'm all for single-function devices.

"The general public (that is, "savvy consumers") doesn't want to shell out $3-500 for a single-purpose device and then have to buy content for it in addition to that upfront cost."

Huh? Are you saying nobody bought the Xbox/Playstation/Nintendo DS? Once bored with the free game they still have to pay several times the cost of a book for anything new.

Janey, good point. I should have been slightly more specific, "for a single-purpose e-book reader". The day your kids pester you to buy them an e-book reader as they already do for a gaming device is the day I eat my hat.

I could read on my iphone... unfortunately, it's too bright for comfort and WAAAAYYY too small. I don't want to turn the page every 10 seconds and read from a backlit screen. What's wrong with a single purpose book reader anyway? a printed book is single purpose and I don't see anybody dissing them in this blog.

What I really want is a reader that is the thickness of paper that I can fold up for a book or fold out for the newspaper. That would be perfection. sigh...

Emo, I hear you about the iPhone, I don't think I want to read any books on it either, and I have one. But it isn't only the fact that devices like the Kindle are single-purpose, it's the combination of that with the price. I can buy a single-purpose print book for 25 cents at a book sale, but to even get in the door with a Kindle requires considerably more. In the end, we will each decide our own calculus of value. I have, and it doesn't include devices like the Kindle. It clearly does for others, and that's fine, but I still have not seen any numbers that convinces me it is a success.