eReaders limited by device fatigue?

Good article on minonline highlighting the challenge for eReaders of creating a need for a new device.  It asks “how many people really want to add an eReader alongside a mobile and a laptop when they leave their home?” Not for the first time, my riposte could be attacked as too old-school. But I would ask – what proportion of the population actually leave their house with a laptop in their satchel or briefcase? Yes, probably a fair % of the sort of people who the author of this article hangs around with. But if I counted the people I see on the train and on the streets each day, I’d say it’s closer to 5%. Just as importantly, I haven’t seen this % climb significantly over the last couple of years – nor do I see any driver of growth over the next few years. Compare that to pretty much 100% who already carry a mobile phone, and a rapidly increasing % whose mobile is a smartphone. On the other hand, 75% of people I see are carrying some form of paper – either a newspaper, magazine, book, or notepad. So my reasoning is that the next-generation of eReaders (ie wireless, touch-screen, colour, document-sized, light-weight, web-enabled, and cheaper) – particularly when they are fully featured eWriters too (see my earlier blog post) – will definitely earn their place in Joe Public’s bag; lighter and more versatile than hauling around a stash of “ink on dead trees”.  Meanwhile, the laptop can battle it out with the desktop as the main computing device for home use, offering the added benefit of portability… Anybody care to challenge this perhaps unfashionable assertion?