"Old World" vs. "New World?" Really? The development of new technologies has always followed the same basic path -- development, refinement (specialization to task), miniaturization, mobilization, convergence (and then further rounds of miniaturization and convergence). Use the phone for example: "crank" wall phone-->rotary dial-->touch tone->wireless phone-->mobile phone-->smart phone-->smaller smart phone->smarter smart phones-->etc. The ONLY reason for a completely specialized device is because the technology isn't there yet to make it efficient and cost effective to have that device perform multiple tasks. To ignore this is silly. People don't WANT to buy a billion devices. They will if they have to to fill their "needs," but the most desirable and most efficient thing is to have a converged device.
The iPad class of device will eventually completely obsolete dedicated readers as technology matures, but it will also continue to become more of a multi-purpose, flexible, and power-user friendly class of device (ala the "Old World"). This is inevitable. I'm not 100% sure that his arguments are completely incompatible with this reality, but he seems to come to incorrect conclusions. Believe me, the world is NOT moving towards a million different appliances. It is simply continuing along the path described above.
Yes, we've refined the interface and made things easier, but we ALWAYS go back to flexibility once such a move is possible without completely losing the simplicity. The author is obviously too young to remember the move from text-based to GUI-based computing. We initially gave up power for power-users in favor of more universal ease of use. And yes, there was screaming galore (I for one hated it). But eventually the power was gained back as the interfaces improved and a new breed of power-users evolved into that "new world" and demanded more efficiency. The need for power/flexibility and the desire for simplicity converged. This is no different. And to think of it as an entirely new world is naive at best.
/rant mode off
