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It will be a bit of a balancing act since the Kobo Vox IS marketed as an eReader (and it is sold at Best Buy, for example, alongside ereader, not tablets) ... but public expectations may be different. Arriving at the same time as the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is being promoted as a media entertainment device (with emphasis on video, music and then ebooks), the Kobo Vox is pitched as extending ereading into magazines and newspapers (and comics) -- all that visual stuff.
The Nook Color was pitched in a similar way -- an ereader with enhanced color and visuals; no one expected to run Netflix on it. But the world is changing -- and possibly the Nook Color II will provide a direct counter to Kindle Fire.
Kobo Vox, at $199, is definitely not a tablet as defined by Apple at $499 (and up) and several other vendors such as Samsung, similarly priced as Apple. As the dust settles a bit, it will be clearer whether Kobo has nailed a significant segment of the market which wants more than eink but doesn't want to pay for a more expensive, multi-use device. Kobo needs to ensure that its value proposition -- its multi-device content and social media platform -- remains up front and centre.
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