pdubs

While I get what the author's saying here, it's a bit disingenuous to call either of those situations "free". Both companies invest nontrivial amounts of money into their OS. Apple develops their in-house OS, and Android is a "some assembly required" product.

- Require admin for installer (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb756929.aspx)

- Add to Start Menu

- Doesn't show up in my installed programs list = no standard way to uninstall

Even if this is currently true; it will change.

I agree that the assertion that ereaders are "elitist" is unfounded, but I also think that your assertion that the opposite is true is similarly unfounded. People will consume "popular" content (books, movies, TV, music) which is generally of "average" quality (where, by definition, most content falls).

I'd say ereaders are generally owned by people who enjoy reading.

...except that Kindles and Nooks aren't trying to compete with the iPad, being completely different types of devices for completely different primary purposes.

That, and the 250GB cap hasn't changed since 2008. In the meantime I can now fit 250GB into less than 1 cubic cm for around $150.

...and it might not be for the reason you expect. For example, you will pay exactly $0 to maintain a new BMW for the first four years; that's part of their deal. So as that runs out, the value of the car plummets.