The sad thing is that publishers could remain relevant by concentrating on what they did before: selling books (yes, the real, paper-y ones). Instead they want to use a technology that is incompatible with their business model (charging for distribution).

While I personally prefer having electronic copies of books because I find them much more useful, I know a good deal of people who still buy physical books for various reasons (one of which being haptic), so it's not like they will die out any time soon. Maybe they won't be as profitable anymore, and eventually fade into obscurity, but that's just the way of things.