Is the Publishing Industry Wasting Its Time on Tablets?

One of the anticipated major trends of 2013, at least according to the companies showcasing their platforms at last January's Digital Book World event, was supposed to be online retail stores branded specifically to publishers and authors, essentially letting publishers cut out the retailer altogether when it can to ebooks, audiobooks, and other downloadable content. The move was targeted specifically to bring customers to the publishers' websites to make their purchases, instead of relying on retailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, costing the rights' holders a percentage of their sales.