The Borders-backed Kobo will soon gain touchscreen capabilities, putting it into more direct competition with the Nook Color and even Amazon's Kindle. The third-party e-reader, now called the Kobo eReader Touch Edition, will cost $129.99 and is available for preorder now for delivery in June, while the original version of the device will be marked down to just $99.99.
The first-generation Kobo was originally released in the middle of last year with the help of the (now bankrupt) Borders bookstore chain. The device started out at $149 and got you an E-Ink screen, a gigabyte of memory, and ePub and PDF support, along with its own bookstore.
The new, Touch version of the Kobo is more sleek looking than the original. Gone is the directional button pad, and the screen makes use of Neonode's zForce infrared touch tech in order to "make reading on Kobo just like that of reading a real book." The device also apparently got a processor bump to aid in faster page turning, and the company's website advertises that the device can now hold up to 30,000 books (up from 10,000) despite apparently having the same level of memory and SD card support. Oh, and the Kobo Touch comes in four colors now: lilac, blue, silver, and black.
Even Kobo executives seem a little surprised at the Kobo's mild success—the company did jump in after Amazon had begun establishing itself as the e-reader gold medalist with Barnes & Noble grabbing the silver. But apparently there was enough demand for another device, and Kobo decided to forge ahead. "By default, we launched the first device to get into the market," EVP of business development told All Things D. "But what we found is we were able to remain competitive….We are an e-book company, but the device is part of that strategy. We’ll continue to put out top-tier devices in the market."
The new (and old) Kobo devices are priced well against the offerings from other companies—the WiFi-only Nook from Barnes & Noble is $149, while the Nook Color (with touchscreen) is $249. Meanwhile, Amazon's most recent WiFi-only Kindle is $139, with the ad-supported Kindle With Special Offers going for $114, neither of which have any kind of touchscreen. At the Kobo's new prices, users looking to swap out their dead tree books for electronic versions may find themselves attracted to the Kobo after all, assuming the Kobo bookstore has the right content.
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