eBooks: Will the Promise Ever be Realized?

The potential of eBooks has excited me for many years. The potential for creating high value multi-media textbooks, that cost students less seems a win-win proposition ... unless you are a publisher. Publishers seem more concerned about profit retention than delivering customer value. Hence, eBooks stagger. Tablet PCs seemed a promising classroom platform for eBook distribution. That promise evaporated the obscene tablet pricing pricing was announced. I predict that when tablet-like pcs fall into the $250-$500 (ideally under $100), eBooks might stand a chance. Alas, until the publishers don their customer value goggles, and suitable reader hardware is available, eBooks will continue to flounder. CNet offers this rose-colored glasses prognosis.