Borders will market the new Kobo Wireless e-reader, in a bid for both companies to carve market-share away from Amazon.com's Kindle and Barnes & Noble�s Nook.
Borders will market the new Kobo Wireless e-reader, in a further attempt to carve market-share away from Amazon.com�s Kindle and Barnes & Noble�s Nook. The e-reader market has expanded rapidly over the last year, resulting in a combination of falling device prices and new hardware additions�and putting pressure on all competitors to match each other�s latest moves.
The Kobo Wireless e-reader reportedly features faster performance, longer battery-life, and a sharper-contrast e-ink screen. It will retail for $139.99, the same price-point as the WiFi-only version of the Kindle, with shipments scheduled for October. In addition, the Kobo store now apparently includes 2.2 million e-books.
Borders first announced it would sell the Kobo through its stores June 17, initially pricing the e-reader at $150. The Kobo includes 1GB of memory and comes preloaded with 100 free e-books, and can display documents in ePub, PDF and Adobe DRM formats.
Borders and Kobo find themselves targeting an e-reader market already kicking into high gear ahead of the holiday shopping season. Amazon recently issued a 30-second television spot contrasting its new Kindle against the Apple iPad, which is considered a major competitor in the market. In the ad, a man struggles to read his tablet PC�s screen in the blinding sunlight, while the woman beside him merrily scans the text on her next-generation Kindle. When asked how she can read �in this light,� the woman responds: �It�s a Kindle, 139 dollars. I actually paid more for these sunglasses.�
The next-generation version of the Kindle with 3G actually costs $189, with new feature tweaks that include higher-contrast e-ink screen, longer battery life, Wikipedia access, support for password-protected PDFs and a more lightweight body.
According to analytics firm In-Stat, e-reader shipments will grow from around 12 million units in 2010 to 35 million in 2014.
�Tablet PC shipments are taking off, fueled in particular by the Apple iPad introduction. Yet, there will still be a revenue opportunity for e-reader suppliers and OEMs since tablet PCs and e-readers target different consumers,� Stephanie Ethier, an analyst with In-Stat, wrote in a Sept. 14 research note.
�Standalone e-readers will address the needs of avid readers, to whom the reading experience is
central. Tablets are better suited for consumers who prefer a stronger multimedia experience, and only light reading.�
The firm predicts that e-readers will decline in price throughout the rest of the year, with more devices dipping below $100.
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