It's a standard circle. Paper books survive as the main form of the media because they're convenient, (comparitively) cheap to produce, and easier to market (they take up shelf space, you can get impulse buys, etc).
Of course if electronic books were more popular some of these issues would go away (cost for one), but none of the major publishers seem interested in taking the leap at this point.
In the meantime ebooks will remain a curiosity for most of the world. The average person isn't interested in paying more money for a less-convenient way to read a book.
Among other things manage a small software QA department in the PC gaming world. My team spends huge chunks of their time swapping hardware in and out of what are, at least as I think of them, the "same" computers. It's almost like I'm being dared to, err, "circumvent" this entire scheme if I want to get any work done.
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Of course if electronic books were more popular some of these issues would go away (cost for one), but none of the major publishers seem interested in taking the leap at this point. In the meantime ebooks will remain a curiosity for most of the world. The average person isn't interested in paying more money for a less-convenient way to read a book.
Heaven forbid.