Sure it's a solution. It's not the only solution, but neither is in-lining the footnotes or placing them nearby. Placing them at the end of the page has size-

Sure it's a solution. It's not the only solution, but neither is in-lining the footnotes or placing them nearby. Placing them at the end of the page has size-issues if fonts are changed. A moderately long foot-note could crowd the entire page if font sizes were increased. The point of footnotes is they are ancillary information that can be skipped if desired. If footnotes have to flow across to another page (or fill a page), then you've introduced an annoyance for the user as they are no longer easily avoidable. Placing them inline has issues if you only want to read some of them and not every single one. End-notes are another use-case that can be handled in pretty much the same way as footnotes if you have a touch screen (or a decent pointing device) and is handled horribly on the Kindle. Just because there's a decent solution for the paper variety doesn't mean the digital variety needs to handle it in the same way. I resisted touch-screens for a long time, but it's clear this is a very good use-case for them.