Ok, not literally, but hey, I got your attention, right? :-)
So I've dropped by two of my local Borders in the Sunnyvale/San Jose area to try and get a look at the Kobo.
In both cases, all they have in the way of an in-store display is this pitiful stand:
Note that those boxes are *empty* and that when I asked to see a demo model, the employee took 10 minutes to call around and ask before being told that their one (!) demo unit was missing.
At another store, they only took about 5 minutes to find their demo unit, but then the employee had to stand around waiting for me to try it out, which was... inconvenient.
Oh right -- there were also some postcards on this display advertising the Aluratek Libre Pro. And in a completely separate display nowhere near the Kobo display (seemed almost intentional), was the sad Sony kiosk, where the Touch Edition always seems to be in a broken demo mode. :-P
Contrast this with the crazy amount of in-store marketing B&N is putting behind the Nook. When I walked into our local B&N, the Nook display is *right there* when you walk in. If you linger for literally more than 30 seconds, a salesman comes running over to start selling you on the thing. Seriously - it's like there's been some corporate mandate that says "Do not let anyone browse on a Nook without holding their hands." On the one hand, it's a little annoying (the guy reminded me of a car salesman - and he was also misinformed about some of the Nook features. ePub "standard" format? Well, kind of. Compatible with iPad? Well, if you download the B&N reader...). But on the other hand, *at least they had 3, maybe 4 devices I could actually hold and use*.
Sad thing is -- I really liked the Kobo. It seemed quite snappy and responsive.
Too bad it's priced too high (relative to the wi-fi only Kindle 3 and Nook) and Borders is doing a crap job of promoting it.
Maybe they'll do something smart like drop them to the magic $99 pricepoint that everybody keeps talking about. But right now, it seems like Borders has seriously dropped the ball.