I don't think most people understand the benefits of e-ink technology and how it is vastly superior to LCD when it comes to long-form reading. An iphone, Apple tablet, etc. all emit light and cause eye strain when used for extended periods of time, while an e-ink display is reflective and really is as close to reading off paper as one can get with current display technology (I'm sure improvements will come in leaps and bounds over the next several years, of course). Also, phones, tablets, netbooks, laptops, etc. with their LCD displays are especially hard to read in sunlight, while e-ink excels in this regard. So one can take their e-ink based ebook reader with them and read outside the sterile environment of home, office, school, etc. just like you can with a real book, and you can do so for hours on end (since the battery is only used when "turning" the page and not when the page is being displayed).
One thing most people don't know about is that many libraries across the US allow members to "borrow" ebooks online for free. The company most often used to supply the ebook borrowing infrastructure is Overdrive (they also do online audio book lending through libraries). Check out http://www.overdrive.com/ and http://search.overdrive.com/ The Sony ebook reader is the most compatible with the ebooks offered through Overdrive, as it can handle Adobe Digital Editions ebooks as well as epub ebooks (epub formatted books are the preferred format as the text easily reflows). So being able to read free books makes the value proposition of the Sony Reader much more obvious (even compared with the $10 Kindle ebooks). I love Overdrive and borrow audiobooks and ebooks all the time. It helps if you have membership at multiple libraries, though, as the selection varies from library to library.
The best site on the net for ebook info is http://www.mobileread.com/
Hope that helps.