[chestnut-tree]

No real surprise. E-ink readers are still only available with black and white displays. Their screens are mostly shaped to fit a small paperback.

Physical books, in contrast, come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. Yes, tablets come in larger sizes and with high resolution colour screens, but they still aren't as comfortable to read as paper or even e-ink displays.

[toyg]

E-ink readers are a luxury, unfortunately. Where phone and tablets can be justified in most homes as being multipurpose, ereaders are fundamentally single-purpose. This is why their share of the market grows so slowly - it's limited to hardcore readers and the wealthy. We need eink to go beyond dedicated devices.

[douche]

I guess so, but when the basic Kindle costs about the same as a full tank of gas, or just a little more than a newly released AAA video game, it's hard to say that it is really restricted to the wealthy.

The biggest appeal of the Kindle is that you can read it outside in the glare of the sun, and the battery lasts for months. I would agree, that for most people, the smartphone they have in their pocket already is good enough for reading ebooks.

[veddox]

What's wrong with single-purpose devices?