Soon, the maker of the Kindle is going to flip the formula used for reimbursing some of the authors who depend on it for sales. Instead of paying these authors by the book, Amazon will soon start paying authors based on how many pages are read—not how many pages are downloaded, but how many pages are displayed on the screen long enough to be parsed. So much for the old publishing-industry cliche that it doesn't matter how many people read your book, only how many buy it.
If this model were to be widely adopted it could really transform how people approach writing. No longer would anyone EVER have a book that took time to ease in to the feel, the characters etc. They will all attempt to have chase scenes, helicopters and explosions all in the first few chapters :)
You're already encouraged to have them in the first few pages. What will change is that it'll be all you have. It takes a lot of skill to keep the audience engaged over pauses, reflections, love scenes, chase scenes, and all the rest... and the people taking Amazon's deal do not have a lot of skill.