Quote:
Originally Posted by boswd
Hi Sensual Poet, How is Kobo doing north of the Border?
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Very well, as far as I can see.
Amazon Kindle is only available mail order -- no stores distribute it.
B&N Nook doesn't sell its ereaders or its ebooks outside of the US.
Sony only sells the PRS-350 5" touch Pearl model -- at $199 -- which lacks wifi; it has stopped selling the PRS-650 6" (which was $249) and has never bothered telling the PRS-950 7" wifi in Canada.
That leaves Kobo almost to itself. It distributes in 350 books stores from sister company Chapters/Indigo and even accepts returns and swaps for damaged Kobos in store. It is in the biggest electronic big box stores -- Best Buy and its sister company Future Shop -- and is slowly pushing Sony out of the way in that channel.
Plus Kobo is in Wal-mart Canada as the only e-reader.
Finally, Kobo, even in Chapters / Indigo stores, makes a big deal about access to public library books. It is very open and friendly and continues to position itself as an international reader ... something which appeals to Canadian cultural milieu.
So, I believe it is doing very well. It will be interesting to see how important the bricks and mortar piece is in the US market: B&N has it, Amazon doesn't ... but Kindle doesn't seem to be hurting. Kobo might be able to thrive even without Borders.