Meet the Kobo, the latest electronic book reader, the new flagship product from Borders and, if the chatter is to be believed, a Kindle Killer. Those aren't our words or from public relations personnel at the Ann Arbor-based book seller. That's how "Wired" magazine described the new gizmo because of its features and low price.
"Kobo is so far the best and most comprehensive service we have used to buy and read books, especially for non-U.S. residents," the "Wired" review states. "It is still flawed, and it is a royal pain that Kindle won't support EPUB books. But with its platform-agnostic approach, huge catalog and new heavyweight partners, we expect to see Kobo grow fast."
The Kindle is seen as the benchmark for the emerging electronic publishing market, but that might change because of the Kobo. The eReading device offers a stylized, easy-to-use, eInk based reader. It also comes preloaded with 100 classic books.
It sells books through the upcoming Borders eBook store, which will feature over a million titles. It will also come with free Borders smart phone applications available for the iPhone, Blackberry and Android, as well as the iPad and all PCs. This across-the-board flexibility is seen as one of Kobo's biggest attributes in a market where a dominant leader has been far from defined, unlike what Apple has done to music with the iPod.
"We wanted to make sure we emerged with a technology agnostic eReader with a rich amount of content," says Mary Davis, spokeswoman for Borders. She adds that Borders will offer the Kobo and 4-10 other eReaders at many of its retail locations.
This latest initiative comes at a critical time for Borders, which has been fighting to stay relevant in an industry that is being upended by the Internet and other technological advances. Becoming a leader in the eBook market would allow Borders to reassert itself as one of the primary leaders in the literary sales world.
Source: Mary Davis, spokeswoman for Borders
Writer: Jon Zemke
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