What the Kindle is really doing to the publishing industry

I have written about the advance of the electronic reader the Kindle before on this blog.
Is it a threat to the publishing industry,will it kill the centuries old tradition of book reader,will libraries be reduced to empty warehouses?

Maybe all three but its arrival has coincided with structural changes in the publishing world as this article by Marion Maneker suggests

The cutbacks that are happening in the publishing industry are not related to its entry

book chains are falling victim to the same disease that killed the independent bookstore. High-margin sales—big best-sellers that come in the back of the store in a shipping box and leave through the front with a customer in the space of a few hours or days—have migrated to other outlets.

However it arrival will coincide with a gap in the market by these structural changes.

The collapse of bookstores almost ensures that the Kindle will thrive.