Well i think overall WRPG's have always coexisted with JRPG's and this will continue, in old times they were Betreyal at Krondor, Eye of the beholder, Bard's Tale or Might and Magic (etc. etc. )at this same time gamers enjoyed Secret of Mana, Dragon Quest or Chrono Trigger.
Later (1997-2000) on there were games like Baldurs Gate, Fallout 1&2 and Final Fantasy 7, Xenogears on Consoles.
The only thing is that WRPG's are becoming an important genre on the consoles (they were alwasy popular, and availbility on consoles have only showed its true i popularity), which used to be a domain of the JRPG's. I think JRPG's could use a bit of change and become less linear (to some extent) but i dont think anyone should be worried, JRPG's will continue to sell.
I love both JRPG's( started playing them a bit later ) and WRPG's, im playing fallout 3
