The ereader marketplace continues to get more complicated: Kobo has announced that its EInk-based Kobo eReader is now available for pre-order through Borders.com for $149.99—and that units will ship in time to arrive for Father’s Day, June 20.
“At $149.99 the Kobo eReader is roughly $100 less than the other eReading devices out there, so it provides a great way to start eReading without breaking the bank,” said Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis, in a statement. “We couldn’t be happier about partnering with a brand like Borders which shares our commitment to technological innovation, high quality, and customer value.”
The Kobo ereader sports a 6-inch EInk display, 1 GB of onboard memory (that’s good for about 1,000 books), a quilted back panel for comfortable reading, Bluetooth connectivity, and claims a battery life of up to two weeks. The eReader will come pre-loaded with 100 classic books along with the Borders eBook application, enabling users to tap into more than a million titles from the Borders eBook catalog.
The Kobo eReader is just one part of Kobo’s overall ebook strategy: Kobo also has apps out for the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android devices, and Palm’s webOS, along with a developer program to help third parties build Kobo into their devices.
The device supports ePub, PDF, and Adobe DRM ebook formats. However, compared to the competition, the Kobo eReader lacks Wi-Fi or mobile connectivity, and has no integrated Web or communications tools—which even the venerable Kindle just picked up in a software update. However, for a company looking to develop its own eBook ecosystem, an affordable just-the-basics EInk reader is certainly a smart move.
