There’s a new entry in the touchscreen eReader field, and subsequently a new $99 entry to tempt those who haven’t yet broken into the world of books on screens. Unfortunately, they’re not the same model.
Kobo is the reader paired with Borders’ eBook initiative, and they’ve now announced that their next model will be a touchscreen, e-ink reader (the Kobo eReader Touch) and it will land with a price of $129. This is a pretty competitive price for a touchscreen unit, but will it give any trouble to the two big forces in the eReader world, Kindle and Nook? A cheap touchscreen device is a draw, but ultimately people will be pulled by catalog size and ingrained habits. A lot of readers are used to dealing with Amazon, and they have made eBook buying almost effortless.
A secondary effect of the new reader is that Kobo’s current reader has seen its price reduced to $99, well undercutting Amazon’s current bottom-end deal, an ad-supported model for $114. The Kobo readers are Wi-Fi-only.
The Kobo eReader Touch will be available next month at stores like Walmart and Best Buy, as well as from Borders.
I like the look of the new Kobo. I can see some people being drawn to the touchscreen functionality, and the catalogue sounds bigger than I expected – 2.3 million books, newspapers and magazines according to the official site. But the point about ingrained habits is a good one, I’ve already bought a number of Kindle books for my iPad even though I could have done the same via the Kobo app.
Wonder if Amazon will go back on their word and create a touchscreen Kindle?