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@digital_steve: Some of the libraries they needed for the WiFi reader were in the open source packages they released back in August, I think you can take this as a pretty firm indication that the "new" firmware is just an updated version of the current firmware for the old devices. There are just some more minor changes between the two to remove the WiFi support, enable Bluetooth and presumably remap the buttons (since we don't have a shop button). I suspect it won't be so much a "port" but just a respin of the new device's firmware, you could think of it as being similar to Microsoft's different Windows editions, WiFi is Windows 7 Home Premium and old-non-WiFi is Windows 7 Home Basic.
The Kobo format for ebooks are similar to ePub but you cannot download them without using the Kobo apps (Desktop or smartphone/tablet apps). They have similar DRM but stripping it wouldn't make sense since you'd have no compatible reader software/hardware. Any book you download in ePub format from the Kobo site will be in usual ePub format, just like if you bought it from Sony or any other store. Usually the visual formatting of the ebooks is slightly different between Kobo and ePub format, Kobo format didn't support images for example, this difference also highlights why there were never problems resizing the font of Kobo books with firmware 1.0.
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