Flash! Borders adds a wireless Kobo Nov 1st
Borders has been carrying a variety of EBRs (E-Book Readers), but this one is interesting.
One of the things that has held back the Kobo is that it hasn’t been wi-fi. Well, that, and that weird plastic button navigation thingy. 
I think this one may pick up some of the market, though. Borders will have it for $139.99. Here’s some advice from a former retailer…drop the ninety-nine cents! First, if something doesn’t end in an even number, it looks cheap…something that is $50 seems much classier than something that is $49.99. But the big thing here is…why be more expensive than the wi-fi only Kindle? You could be the same price, and you could say you, “You can’t get a wi-fi E Ink EBR cheaper.” Pretty sure that’s still true…
One of the big things, of course, is selection…and the Kobo can access the Border e-book store, which is not bad.
Let’s go through some of the features:
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The sleep mode picture is the cover of the book you are reading (some people really want that for the Kindle…others don’t)
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Supports PDF
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Comes in three case colors: black, white, and lavender
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Has a “quilted back”…some find the Kindle back slippery
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Lighter than the Kindle wi-fi only (it says less than 8 ounces: the K is 8.5)
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Slightly smaller than the K3 7.2 x 4.7 versus 7.5 x 4.8
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1 GB onboard memory, but can handle a 4 GB SD card
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Comes with 100 pre-loaded books
Now, while it does have some advantages over the Kindle, I like the Kindle better. One of the key things is the number of books…the Kindle store has over 700,000, Borders has 230,501.
You can pre-order this device here:
http://www.borders.com/online/store/MediaView_kobowifi
Interestingly, the Kobo site has it…without that ninety-nine cents ($139):
This may impact the Kindle some, but I think it may pose an interesting challenge to the NOOK. Some people just want to buy things from bookstores…they feel like they are supporting book people. It also doesn’t have that little LCD screen at the bottom of the NOOK…which some people find distracting, although some like it. It’s also cheaper…
Oh, and here’s a weird thing: it doesn’t read txt, rtf, or docs. That’s just odd, but won’t hurt a lot of people, I guess. I do put txt files on my Kindle…it’s a handy way to carry notes around.
Kindles are in stores, but not bookstores…I think we’ll see a slice (not a big one) going to this reader this holiday season, unless there are some major changes.
I’ll be interested to see when more details come out about this.
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
September 30, 2010 at 1:42 am |
The kindle will replace textbooks, it already is!
September 30, 2010 at 1:47 am |
Hey Bufo!
Just a quick question
I’m not very techie, but I had always thought that wireless meant “internet anywhere, anytime” while WiFi had to be connected to some local internet…router..thing (don’t quite know the term for that..).
Thanks for sharing the news!
Sara
September 30, 2010 at 2:07 am |
Whoops! Nevermind, it was a reading error on my part. So the Kobo is black and has built-in WiFi!
I’ll have to go to Borders once this comes out and check out the competition
September 30, 2010 at 1:54 am |
Given the same-priced Kindle and Nook, I don’t see this has anything better to offer. At $99, perhaps.
Also, the Kobo, Inc. relationship with Borders is a business partnership (Borders is a shareholder, but does not outright own them), and Borders has partnered with other ebook device makers. Kobo has its own online bookstore (kobobooks.com) and apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry etc. that are different than the Borders apps.
It’s unclear if the content is the same as Borders, or something else. There’s almost no mention of Borders on koboereader.com, or of the source of the content. I suspect if you buy it from Borders, you connect to the ‘Borders’ store, but if you get it from koboereader.com (or from Indigo or Walmart in Canada), you get the ‘Kobo’ store. Or maybe you can use either source? It is really odd that koboereader.com has no information about the store, but is willing to take your order anyway. I would really want to know more about this before buying.
September 30, 2010 at 2:19 am |
Looks like I answered my own question: the ebook stuff is handled by Kobo. All the Borders stuff says ‘powered by Kobo’. So they are probably different storefronts for the same content. The iOS apps are virtually identical, just different branding.
But the accounts used for each appear to be separate.