Products like the Interead could be the ticket for e-reader adoption. The device costs just $250, yet has the high-resolution screen of the Kindle and Sony readers. Niel Jones, who invented the device, suggests a killer feature for business: the ability to push documents. Epps thinks that e-readers may be more viable when they are customized for specific industries. In aviation and health care, an e-reader could replace reams of paper manuals.

E-readers make the most sense at companies where employees have to lug around a lot of paper. They are in limited trials at universities such as Case Western Reserve and Princeton, which are using them to replace some textbooks. Toyota Material Handling, the vehicle maker's forklift division, is deploying the Sony Digital Reader to its sales people, mostly as a cost-cutting measure.

"Volumes of information can be stored and easily accessed, replacing the need for numerous hardcover paper manuals," says Niels Ostergaard, the Toyota division's sales, customer service and parts manager. If a forklift company can save a few trees, the idea is bound to catch on at Wal-Mart and IBM eventually.

John Brandon is a freelance writer based in Minnesota.