Slate:The Kindle is hastening the end of publishing

According to a Slate article the Kindle is hastening the end of publishing, rewarding Amazon through the sale of the Kindle hardware but harming publishers and authors.

This strikes me as off base. Amazon has done a fantastic job developing mechanisms that benefit customers for consolidating their purchases through Amazon. For example, BK--before Kindle--I would purchase my books from a number of sources, Amazon now and then, Barnes & Noble, airport paperback racks. But, with the Kindle, I purchase 99.9% of my titles via Amazon. I get the convenience of browsing, sampling and buying a book from the comfort of my couch, and Amazon gets my business. One may argue that such consolidation puts Amazon in the position of having too much leverage over publishers, in the same way Apple is charged with having too much sway with music labels. However the remedy for this, I think, is compeitition not complaining about innovation.