With all due respect: Your needs are important to you, but I don't think they are to the mass market. Apple will cater to the mass market.
It is Beta vs VHS all over again. The "superior-quality experience" Beta lost to the "more-convenient, more flexible" VHS.
In 10 years, nobody will even remember what eInk was.
Sorry!
*
Steve, apology accepted. Oh wait, you're not Steve, so no need to apologize, and for your benefit (and others inclined to do the same thing), avoiding "Sorry!" is a good thing, since it comes across as, at the very least, disingenuous.
Moving on...
Well, here's the thing. If Jobs' intent is to "Redefine Print Media," as the title of this thread posits, wouldn't that include those who read for hours at a time?
Barnes and Noble DOES cater to the mass market ... as does the vast majority of mass printed media. This mass market, this billion+ dollar industry, consists of millions of people who read for hours at at time. Jobs will want to cater to the same mass market, as you suggest, but:
There's quite a difference between beta/vhs and e-ink/lcd.
Beta/vhs is about content delivery -- how something gets to the TV screen -- invisible to the consumer.
E-ink/lcd is not invisible -- rather than delivery of the media, it's about consumption of the media, and therefore much more apparent, and important, to the consumer.
You're right again, that 10 years from now, no one will remember e-ink -- it could very well be called something else -- or be a completely different, superior technology that accomplishes the same purpose -- and more.
Or, we might all still be talking about e-ink.
Just to clarify, I want an LCD screen as well. Of course Apple must deliver that. But at the same time, if the delivery is LCD only, or OLED only, Apple must be content with not being the e-reader device of choice for those that read for hours at a time, those people that are the mass market for an e-reading device. And let's not forget something very, very important -- even if you or Steve or anyone else said that those who read for hours at a time aren't and will never be mass market, think again -- with printed media dying, these people will be forced to the internet for the content they crave.
And there is no doubt that there will be technology for them as easy on the eyes, if not easier, than e-ink. There is simply way too much money to be made to ignore them (me).
Back-lit text is too hard on the eyes. I wonder if the reason so many people claim to have no difficulty reading on an iPhone is only because the screen itself is so tiny. Blow the same display to three or four times that size and see whether dissatisfaction rates rise proportionately.
No one regularly watches movies 6 inches from the tv screen, or movie theater screen, or, for that matter, their computer screen. Unless they're legally blind, or close to it.
It's simply too bright for comfort. And, reading is a much more thought-intensive, brain intensive task than looking at static pictures or moving pictures. It's a much easier process for the brain to look at a 6 slice toaster and register -- 6 slice toaster -- than it is for the brain to read the words and then imagine how the object must look.
Imagine trying to study for hours at a time. Imagine trying to go to law school, using an LCD display, and trying to spend hours upon hours at the library, using your "textbooks" to prepare for the next exam.
It's simply not feasible.
It's little details like this why technology like e-ink will be incredibly important to e-readers.
Whether or not Apple is able to resolve this problem right out of the box remains to be seen. I'm hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.