Allison,

While I do agree that there is some competition in the eReader space, I have yet to see a versatile competitor to the iPad.  Amazon and B&N can throw their eReaders at the market for little or no cost (as a loss leader), to sell books, but that is a failed strategy down the line.  Ask any internet bubble company that wanted to have content be the driver of profits in the absense of a good recurring and HIGH MARGIN revenue model.  Even cell phone companies are charging high ETFs to offset the loss on early handset discounts.

The eReaders that exist on the market right now are not true competitors for the iPad.  We have yet to see some of the serious competition since the competitors on the hardware space do not have a profitable model for allowing the product to be cheap enough to sustain itself in the market against the iPad juggernaut.

Let's face it, Apple did its homework in solving for the balance between cost/benefit in the hardware and the margins on the software side.  In so, they made a highly profitable model for themselves as well as the apps and content developers.

There is a good reason that the USA today has chosen to abandon the paper in favor of the content play.  They see the profit model and the market very clearly.  For now, that market is in content delivery – fee based or free to the end user.