It's an interesting article and it completely shows the dilemma in which the publishers find themselves now. This is an interesting era for publishers and booksellers. This will really shake them up when the next range of e-readers arrive which are more interesting for the wider public to buy.

“…industry’s big regrets about the digital age”

Strikes me, for the most part, that publishers of music and books have always dealt with a retailer (book store, record store, etc.) rather than directly with the customer (end-user). It was the same back in B.C. days (before computer).

Amazon, iTunes, etc. are just online equivalents of the old brick and mortar retail. The publisher’s regret is more like “why didn’t we think and do this first and become the retailer as well.”