answer:It’s all about the display and portability. In Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, he describes a near-future where people just carry around “paper”. It looks and apparently feels much like the paper we have today, but it’s really a souped up, fancy wireless computer that accepts touch, gesture, and pen-based inputs from the user. It connects to ubiquitous wifi and allows the user to communicate securely with his personal contacts, crunch numbers, watch video, and read the news. Much like we treat paper today, this future “paper” is a commodity item that the user simply balls up (securely wiping all trace of activity from the device) and throws in the trash when done. So… I think that this battle between tablets and e-readers is a bit of a red herring. Both concepts embody some level of compromise today. I’m optimistic that the future holds improved solutions that should remove those compromises and offer better utility.