Glo Sleepcover Release Date

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by judyz

I'm so glad that Sony, Kobo, Nook and Amazon are so Charitible as to offer us their devices without making any profits. Their shareholders must be really nice people. LOL. Margins might be a bit slim on the hardware but please don't be fooled. There is a lot of creative accounting going into those statements. For instance it depends on the number of financial years you spread the development costs over. There is a profit with every sale. There is no way the materials cost ads up to more than the MSRP on these devices.

The $40 case is made out of plain old fabric. For $10 more you get leather. After 6 months of daily use and carrying it in my purse I will be wishing I had spent the extra $10. Fabric just doesn't stand up to use like leather.

Kobo has made a huge mistake not getting the covers out with the hardware and overpricing them. If they cut $10 off the MSRP of both covers and had them sitting with the devices on the shelves two weeks ago they would have sold a ton of them. Even at a $30 price point for a fabric cover (and $40 for leather) cost per unit would be easily under $10 so they would be making good money.

As it stands the cases are still not in the stores and the GLO's out there that are being used without cases or with improperly fitting cases are going to end up with scratches that show oh so nicely on their light up displays.

I just went to a Coles - they're saying the covers might not be available until mid-November now. Originally, the cover release date was (tentatively) October 14, the same day as the Kobo Glo/Mini official release. Now...

And judyz, Amazon has gone on record saying that they sell the hardware at no profit, or at a loss, since they make their money on the book/audiobook/media sales, just like razor companies do on razor blades. And I'd like to find out where you're getting the cost-per-unit, as well as your calculations (including the costs of tooling, factory time, shipping, customs, etc) to figure out they'd get a $10 cost per unit. I'd be throwing in at least another 50 cents for the magnet, for example. Not sure what sort of reject rate they've got on the manufacturing side, which the COGS has to cover as well.

And given this most recent delay... that's got to be a really damned high rate of failure/rejection. About the only part of your post in which I'm in agreement with is that they should've had those cases out the day they started shipping devices, just to get a nice add-on sale. As it is, this appears to be another Kobo launch problem; just like the Vox shipping issues from the last round.

[HoyPhoto]

Does anyone know or have tried using a Touch case with the Glo? I have a Touch with the Canvas Bookstyle case, wondering if I could slide the Glo in there? I realize it wouldn't put it to sleep on it's own but would it protect it and show the entire screen? I really don't see a point in myself buying a new Glo if I don't have anything to cover it in, I'm pretty sure the screen wouldn't last a week in my backpack.

Thanks!

[treadlightly]

I quite like using the box as a case. I'm waiting for a sleeve that I ordered on eBay to arrive, but I'm thinking that if they really wanted to sell the overpriced $40 covers they shouldn't have made the box so nice.

[judyz]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

I just went to a Coles - they're saying the covers might not be available until mid-November now. Originally, the cover release date was (tentatively) October 14, the same day as the Kobo Glo/Mini official release. Now...

And judyz, Amazon has gone on record saying that they sell the hardware at no profit, or at a loss, since they make their money on the book/audiobook/media sales, just like razor companies do on razor blades. And I'd like to find out where you're getting the cost-per-unit, as well as your calculations (including the costs of tooling, factory time, shipping, customs, etc) to figure out they'd get a $10 cost per unit. I'd be throwing in at least another 50 cents for the magnet, for example. Not sure what sort of reject rate they've got on the manufacturing side, which the COGS has to cover as well.

And given this most recent delay... that's got to be a really damned high rate of failure/rejection. About the only part of your post in which I'm in agreement with is that they should've had those cases out the day they started shipping devices, just to get a nice add-on sale. As it is, this appears to be another Kobo launch problem; just like the Vox shipping issues from the last round.

iSuppli is a great place to get information on actual product costs if you are interested. There are also quite a few other sites on the web if you are interested in learning more about supply costs. I would also highly recommend an ebay search. You will be flabergasted at the cost of items when purchased directly from the manufacturers in China.

A simple search will also help you to discover that magnet prices specifically are qutie low as well. Especially when buying in quantity. Even an average consumer can purchase a 150 pack of rare earth magnets (www.rare-earth-magnets.com among others) for a retail of 5 cents a unit.

The original Kindle Fire cost Amazon $2 more than they were selling it for. Amazon didn't care because they knew they would make that back off the first electronic purchase.

I personally don't see the corelation to the profit margins on the device the decision to make poor choices about the case. Since there is no requirement to buy an official case Kobo only hurts themselves by not having them available and not pricing them competitively. Third party suppliers will be happy to eat up the high margin case sales.

[Breid]

Originally Posted by HoyPhoto

Does anyone know or have tried using a Touch case with the Glo? I have a Touch with the Canvas Bookstyle case, wondering if I could slide the Glo in there? I realize it wouldn't put it to sleep on it's own but would it protect it and show the entire screen? I really don't see a point in myself buying a new Glo if I don't have anything to cover it in, I'm pretty sure the screen wouldn't last a week in my backpack.

Thanks!

Yes, You can slide the Glo into the Touch cover, but the Glo is a little bit shorter than the Touch, so it's not a snug/secure fit. I am using a padded Kindle 4 pouch to protect my Glo until the sleep covers are available.

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by judyz

iSuppli is a great place to get information on actual product costs if you are interested. There are also quite a few other sites on the web if you are interested in learning more about supply costs. I would also highly recommend an ebay search. You will be flabergasted at the cost of items when purchased directly from the manufacturers in China.

A simple search will also help you to discover that magnet prices specifically are qutie low as well. Especially when buying in quantity. Even an average consumer can purchase a 150 pack of rare earth magnets (www.rare-earth-magnets.com among others) for a retail of 5 cents a unit.

The original Kindle Fire cost Amazon $2 more than they were selling it for. Amazon didn't care because they knew they would make that back off the first electronic purchase.

I personally don't see the corelation to the profit margins on the device the decision to make poor choices about the case. Since there is no requirement to buy an official case Kobo only hurts themselves by not having them available and not pricing them competitively. Third party suppliers will be happy to eat up the high margin case sales.

Note that isuppli mostly focuses on the electronics - the suppliers of clothing and various other knick-knacks in China don't quite operate the same way, and their costs are a tad different. And given that reply, I'm guessing you don't have anything solid on what the cases should cost; we're dealing with customs, transportation over the ocean, fuel costs to get them to the docks, from the docks, to stores, etc. Payment of staff, various other 'incidentals' (which in some cases look a lot like bribery), taxes at various levels, and more.

Now, I agree that they should've had the damned cases out sooner - not having them available at launch is a mistake, but it's a mistake they've made before. The Kobo Touch took months to get cases; ditto the Vox, which didn't have an official case when it first launched, and didn't until about 4 months later. I should know, since I spent most of the spring and part of the summer trying to find one, before settling for a simple Playbook leather envelope I got on clearance.

And Kobo cases have always tended to be expensive; I remember them going for $40 for the ones that were little more than velvet-coated cardboard. About the only thing different here is that the cases appear to be better made than the last crop of Kobo Touch and Vox cases. Otherwise, their lateness and expense are typically Kobo.

I'm waiting for a third party supplier who'll make a case that doesn't use elastics or leather straps that includes a magnet. I'm not holding my breath while waiting for one, though.

[dmacmart]

I'm using a rigid passport holder to protect the Glo screen when I toss it in my purse, till I find a cover I like.

[davidfosterart]

Anyone found any Official Sleepcover cases at all? I saw the Glo Fabric SleepCover - Heather Grey which I would like, on Chapters website. I am in the UK.

Edit: I have just found some on FNAC website in Belgium, won't accept my UK address though

[sjfwhite]

The Chapters Canada website shows the shipping as usually 2-4 days on the sleepcovers for the Glo. However, once ordered and in the cart (after payment info has been provided and on the shipping screen) the item is listed as a Pre-Order. For the time being I am using a small Touch case by Rocketfish wish is sufficing so, not being in a rush, I decided to place the order through Chapters. I'll report back when I get shipping notification.

[SeigneurAo]

Originally Posted by davidfosterart

Anyone found any Official Sleepcover cases at all?

Bought one myself. FNAC France.

[Chi Cygni]

same here in Belgium, FNAC sells sleepcovers for Glo. But not the Glo itself yet lol

[Tzar]

Originally Posted by HoyPhoto

Does anyone know or have tried using a Touch case with the Glo? I have a Touch with the Canvas Bookstyle case, wondering if I could slide the Glo in there? I realize it wouldn't put it to sleep on it's own but would it protect it and show the entire screen? I really don't see a point in myself buying a new Glo if I don't have anything to cover it in, I'm pretty sure the screen wouldn't last a week in my backpack.

Thanks!

I am using for my Glo the Kobo Touch pouch I already had for my Touch. It fits well enough, although I was surprised to see that the Glo was a whisker larger than the Touch: at first it was kind of hard to get the Glo in and out. The pouch has now enlarged a bit after a few days so it's OK. Length-wise, as the Glo is shorter, it definitely fits inside the pouch.

[Uschiekid]

gecko now has one cover made for the glo available, if anyone is interested:

http://www.geckocovers.com/ereader-c.../kobo-glo.html

it seems more fit-to-size than the official sleep covers, BUT for anyone set on a sleep cover, this one doesn't seem to be.

[judyz]

I suspect my Blue Leather case from China ($10 on ebay including all bribes, ocean travel, taxes, fuel costs, etc) will arrive in my hands long before the sleep cover. I will stick one of my 5 cent magnets in the pocket and call it a day.

Moving on.

The current word is Oct 23 Chapters is hoping to have the Sleep Covers in store. We will see if that happens.

The Gecko Case looks nice. Has anyone bought one yet?

[kobokobe]

Are there any covers (including non-sleep covers) out for the Glo in Canada? I'm not seeing any, and even on the Chapters Indigo website, I'm only seeing a total of 6 covers (all preorders) unless I'm missing something. Seems like a very small selection, compared to KT and others.