We’re almost at a point where clause the Kindle particular, like Kleenex tissues to, interchangeable with e-reader . That’s fair; it was among the first in the US, and with the quiet retreats or Sony and Barnes & amp; Noble’s Nook line, it’s among the last. But the introduction this week of an e-reader bone healing That matches the top-end Kindle’s marquee feature and Severely undercuts its price is a reminder That Amazon hasnt monopolized the market yet. In fact, it’s got competition that’s more serious than you’d think.
The Kobo Glo HD will not be available in the US until May 1, but When it arrives it’ll bring with it a display every bit as pixel-packed as Amazon’s Kindle stunning Voyage-at a $ 70 discount. The Glo HD ook doesnâ Appear to be many hardware cutting corners elsewhere to make up the cost; it’s just as light as the Voyage, and only very slightly thicker. The two use the same Carta E-Ink technology. Both are front-lit, though the Voyage finds a small advantage by automatically adjusting the brightness to best suit your surrounding conditions.
“With this Particular Device, we went to people who self-declare as being attached to paper, “says Michael Tamblyn, Kobo’s president and chief content officer. “We asked ourselves what characteristics would theywant in a device to make the jump to e-reading.” Not surprisingly, They wanted a device That feels like a book. Based on notes specs, the Glo HD comes about as close as you can get.
Despite the similarities to the Voyage, the Glo HD costs $ 130, Compared to the $ 200 you’ll pay for Amazon’s base -level offering. In fact, you’ll pay less for the Glo HD than you would for the noticeably less crisp Kindle Paperwhite without the special offers, an apt comparison since Kobo doesnâ plaster any notes or devices’ lock screens with ads.
You can not judge any gadget on hardware alone, and the Kindle has plenty of advantages That do not show up on a spec sheet. But for the right child or consumer-the child That still reads books enough to warrant a dedicated e-reading device Instead of the occasional session-smartphone scrolling Kobo HAS Importance beyond any individual product. It’s the last bastion of competition in a field That sorely needs it
Turning the Page
The argument for Kobo is simply this:. Without it, Amazon would be your only choice. Sony slinked off the e-reader field a year ago. Barnes & amp; Noble hasnt updated notes Nook Glow Light since 2013, and Seems to have zero interest in producing notes own hardware. Kobo and Kindle are at this point the only mass-market e-readers, full stop. In otherwords, Kobo is the only company capable of pushing forward Kindle, and vice versa.
If you think That sort of competition does not matter-that it’s just an e-reader, how much innovation do you really need-you just need to look at the Kobo Aura H20. Released last fall, it’s the only e-reader That gets delivered to your door waterproof. That’s a feature no Kindle can boast, Unless you go the pricey aftermarket route.
Tamblyn is quick to cite other e-reader Kobo HAS pioneered improvements. In 2010, the Kobo e-reader’s $ 149 price tag Significantly notes undercut competition. Three years later, the 6.8-inch HD Aura was an affordable large-format e-reader (the 9.7-inch Kindle DX Preceded it, but at a much higher price and for a more specialized audience) That resolution set a new standard for the time or release notes. These are the types of efforts thathave a gravity beyond Their sales figures. A cheap Kobo makes cheaper Kindles. That Kindles Kobo features are likely to wind up in future Kindles. That’s just how competition works. And without Kobo, there is not any.
The need for a Kindle alternative goes deeper than just hardware. Kobo works with a broader range of file formats than Kindle does (though bone healing use DRM on titles you purchase directly), and frankly Has A less contentious relationship with major publishing houses. A public splash between Amazon and Hachette last spring led to delayed shipments, higher prices, and titles being pulled from the Kindle Store’s digital shelves. Many axis shaft 5,000 titles were affectedness
Kobo’s Hardly the only digital book retailer around.; Barnes & amp; Noble still moves plenty of merchandise through notes Nook app, and upstart subscription service Oyster recently embraced retail shaft well. But by having an integrated hardware and software experience, Kobo notes gives customers more directly, frictionless access to content than anyone but Amazon. And so far, unlike Amazon, it hasnt used notes to customers as leverage in publisher spats
That’s not to say Kobo’s perfect.; there’s a selection trade-off here. Though Tamblyn Describes his company and Amazon as “Effectively peers” in quantity and quality of offerings (aside from content That comes from Amazon’s own publishing arm), the Kobo bookstore can feel jumbled and anemic in practice, versus the slickly produced and fully stocked Kindle Store. Tamblyn insists That boils down to the difference approaches to discovery. Kobo is “less automated” than Amazon’s algorithmic rigor, curated with more of a human touch. That’s likely true, but in my experience doesnâ always resulted in a better user experience.
Staying Power
How good is a digital product does not mean much, though, if it’s not going to be supported in a year or two. And it’s tempting to think of Kobo as the doomed underdog; the name’s still not very familiar to the US audience. But Tamblyn stresses That the Kobo’s focus HAS so far leg on international markets, and That it has “significant global share,” Despite or at being an afterthought stateside.
More important than Kobo’s actual numbers, though, Are those whether it’s parent company, Rakuten, one of the world’s largest ecommerce companies that’s hört in expansion mode. You’re most likely familiar with Buy.com, Rakuten-which acquired in 2010, but The Easiest Way to think of it is as the Amazon or Japan. Last year alone it tallied Nearly $ 5 billion in revenue. It has a market cap of $ 25 billion. It’s no Amazon, but it’s not exactly Pets.com either.
That’s important not just for the confidence That You’re not buying off-brand junk-as someone who’s tested several at Kobo products, I can assurement you it’s not-but for the reassurance thatthere’s less risk than you thought to investing in the Kobo ecosystem. Rakuten is capable of thinking about, and surviving on, the long-term. Stashing your books on notes devices is as safe a bet as any.
Fighting for Scraps?
There’s a looming hesitation around this entire discussion, All which is how long e-readers will equally continued to exist as a product at all. Forrester Research last year category sales projected to fall to 7 million per year by 2017, versus 25 million in 2012. The rise of big smartphones and small tablets Appears to have made a powerful argument against a dedicated reading device.
While Tamblyn acknowledges That Kobo’s target demographic in the US is experiencing an older generation e-reading for the first time, he’s Perhaps Predictably bullish on the industry’s prospects. There’s still a place for devices like Kindle and Kobo.
“People who love reading, who read a book or two a week, are much more likely to be drawn to a dedicated device,” he Explains to WIRED . Many Of Those people are already too deeply invested in Amazon’s ecosystem to findtheir way out. But for newcomers to the e-reading experience, people who are tired or smartphone screen glare ruining Their view, or black screen or battery life woes, or whether all the distractions That come with reading on the same device you tweet with, e- readers are a welcome respite
In fact, one of the biggest contributors to e-reader sales decline is likely the same as tablets or That:. You Rarely need to replace them. A White Paper from two years ago is much the same as a White Paper today. Refresh rates get a little faster, E-Ink gets a little more crisp, but there’s not much about a new Kindle That would make you feel the need to replace your old one.
That’s the real reason Kobo matters . Without any rivalry at all, the pace of e-reader innovation would be even slower than it is already. Upgrades would remainning upkeep too expensive or too minor to bother with. Waterproofing would still be a distant dream. Kobo helps make e-readers worth buying again, Wherever You end up Actually buying one from.
