For instance, you can conclude that Apple wouldn't release a dedicated reading device (as Amazon has) because the market is relatively small, being the union of "people who read", "people willing to read on an electronic device", and "people who can afford a dedicated reading electronic device", as opposed to (say) "people who use the web" and "people who listen to music or watch tv or watch movies". (I don't agree with the parent post, incidentally, as people who read the news as opposed to watching the news are a dying breed.)

As for libraries--they're quite obviously an argument against a reading device.

I suspect that libraries are filling important niches today that are extremely hard to replace with technology, but their use for some purposes such as repositories for reference information is all but obsolete.

We use our local library intensely - but only to borrow about 20 books a week for our 2 year old. Otherwise I would not have gone there in 10 years.