Just as the eReader market is beginning to become cluttered with competition, another player enters the game. Coming June 17, Borders' Kobo reader and eBookstore goes mainstream.
The Kobo starts at $149.99—considerably less than the Nook by arch-rival Barnes and Noble. It’s also cheaper than the eBellwether—Amazon’s Kindle— and is marginally cheaper than an entry-level Sony Reader.
Reviewing the facts and figures, Kobo seems closest to Sony’s Pocket Edition reader (my personal eReading device), although Kobo doubles the built-in memory to 1 GB. Kobo lacks WiFi connectivity, which may be enough to get some users to pony up the extra $110 or so to buy a Nook or Kindle.
The lack of WiFi could be a detriment because Barnes and Noble leverages its bricks-and-mortar stores by allowing Nook users free downloads to read while in store plus exclusive discounts. Nook and Kindle are the only readers to offer a QWERTY keyboard, for whatever that's worth.
Borders is definitely overdue getting in on the eReader game. Near the start of this year I read a prediction that Borders would be another brand to go bust in this economy. The struggling chain is being propped up by an investment from Bennett LeBow, a man whose business holdings include a tobacco company.
We’ll see if the value-oriented Kobo is the last-hour innovation to save the struggling bookstore brand. Personally, I hope Borders survives. While I also am fond of Barnes and Noble with all its rich mahogany and plush seating, Borders offers a more generous rewards program. When it comes to in-store coffee, I'll take Seattle’s Best over Starbucks any day (even if SBUX owns the latter). However, should LeBow’s tobacco influence turn Borders into another With Pipe and Book (a humidor-plus-books shop in Lake Placid, NY), then I suppose the brand can go up in flames.
Meanwhile, it’ll be interesting to see how the eBookstore battles unfold throughout the rest of 2010. Let the eBloodbath begin.
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