Although I love the idea of all the tablets and eReaders coming out, their success is still something of a surprise to me. Why? Because, unlike a smartphone, it's a fundamentally "frivolous" purchase for all but a handful of voracious readers who don't want to lug a bag of books with them on planes. 

The Kindle was the top selling electronics item of the holiday season on that site. And the day after Xmas, Amazon announced, "On Christmas Day, for the First Time Ever, Customers Purchased More Kindle Books Than Physical Books." Barnes & Noble's competing device, Nook, has also sold very well. 

There are easily more than a dozen tablets and eReaders either out or coming out. The most anticipated of which is the unconfirmed Apple iPad/iSlate/iGuide, which is expected to be announced at the end of next month. 

Most of the existing eBook Readers rely on E-Ink (Kindle, Sony, Nook). While utilitarian, this makes for a bland user experience. Now a new eBook "platform" called Blio, from Ray Kurzweil, brings rich graphics and full color to eBooks. It's not hardware but software that works with multiple devices. In more ways than one, I believe this is clearly the future and the existing E-Ink readers will in retrospect be seen as "1.0" devices. 

Magazine publishers, which rely on rich visual material in their publications, are gearing up for a tablet-centric future. Many have them have already embraced the iPhone, a full-color device. Newspapers too will want full color. And in both cases they'll want to incorporate video (eventually). 

I'm sure that Apple recognizes the importance of color and will offer it as part of the Apple tablet experience. I suspect that WiFi and Web browsing will also be included (perhaps a media player as well). My belief has long been that the winning device(s) will offer a large or full-size color screen, WiFi and full Web browsing and video capability. Alternatively, a range of devices can co-exist with these uber-tablets if they're relatively inexpensive. 

While we have Amazon to thank for jumpstarting this market, absent some changes, it's unlikely that next year at this time Kindle will be in the same privileged position it is today.