I do expect that both Amazon and Hearst will sell some of their devices to people who like new toys and to those who think that they only want to do one thing. For example, read a book on the beach or a plane. But woe be to them if they then wanted to read a newspaper.

Amazon and Hearst could try to force people to buy their devices by refusing to permit their content to be displayed on other devices. That would only make sense if there were no other sources for the content and the public is clamoring for the content, or, like the iPod, the device is so much better than anyone else's attempt you can drive the market. Note that the iPod Touch of today is not the single purpose device that the original iPod was. So even Apple sees a limited future in single-purpose devices.

Clearly there is very little news that is confined to the Hearst newspapers, so content exclusivity does not seem to be much of a forcing factor for the Hearst e-reader.

It is sad to watch an industry such as the newspaper business try to avoid dealing with such fundamental changes in their world by clinging to the way they did business in the pre-Internet world. It just prolongs the agony for all involved.

Disclaimer: Harvard is still learning about the Internet after almost 40 years of connectivity but it is learning and does not, as far as I know, have an opinion on those that do not. So the above is my own view.