MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Borders

ProfCrash · 01-21-2011, 04:55 PM

I spent a good amount of time and money at the original Borders in Ann Arbor when I was in Grad School. It was a fun store. The staff was very knowledgable and friendly. They had some great books in stock.

The Borders I visit now are nothing like the home store.

I don't think the Kobo could save Borders even if it was announced a couple of years back. They built it so that it could read books from a wide variety of stores. That is great for us but not for Borders.

We all complain about Amazon and BN DRM's which make it difficult to read their books on other devices but Amazon and BN know that they are going to make more money off of the sale of books then they are off of the sale of the device. The Kobo is an ok device, it still lacks many of the basic features found on the Kindle and Nook, but it is not likely to make Borders a ton of money when people are buying it precisly because they can buy books from other stores.

I would guess that most Kindle and Nook users buy their books from Amazon and BN. Why? They are the stores that their devices are from so probably the first place they think of buying from. But also because it is more work to get books from other stores on their device.

Kindles can read non-DRM mobi books. You have to find a store, buy the book, download it to your computer, and sideload it to your Kindle. Or you could buy it from Amazon and turn on your whispernet and have it in under a minute.

BN can read ADE DRMed books from other stores. To do so you have to downlaod and install the ADE program, browse the other store, buy the book, download the book, do the ADE thing, and then sideload it to your device. And from what I have been reading this week, hope that you downloaded ADE program properly otherwise you could be in trouble. Or you could buy from BN and have it delivered to your Nook in under a minute.

I know that there are people who choose to shop outside Amazon and BN for their devices but I think it is safe to say that they are in the minority. Heck, I would guess that they are in the minority on this site.

So Borders is a partial investor in the Kobo, as I understand it not a majority owner and possibly somewhere between 10-20%. The device allows people buy books from other sites and download them to the Kobo with about the same level of difficulty. So they are not making a ton on the sale of the device and they are selling a device that is easily used to read books from other stores.

Great for the customer but bad for Borders.

01-21-2011, 04:55 PM	#11
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	I spent a good amount of time and money at the original Borders in Ann Arbor when I was in Grad School. It was a fun store. The staff was very knowledgable and friendly. They had some great books in stock. The Borders I visit now are nothing like the home store. I don't think the Kobo could save Borders even if it was announced a couple of years back. They built it so that it could read books from a wide variety of stores. That is great for us but not for Borders. We all complain about Amazon and BN DRM's which make it difficult to read their books on other devices but Amazon and BN know that they are going to make more money off of the sale of books then they are off of the sale of the device. The Kobo is an ok device, it still lacks many of the basic features found on the Kindle and Nook, but it is not likely to make Borders a ton of money when people are buying it precisly because they can buy books from other stores. I would guess that most Kindle and Nook users buy their books from Amazon and BN. Why? They are the stores that their devices are from so probably the first place they think of buying from. But also because it is more work to get books from other stores on their device. Kindles can read non-DRM mobi books. You have to find a store, buy the book, download it to your computer, and sideload it to your Kindle. Or you could buy it from Amazon and turn on your whispernet and have it in under a minute. BN can read ADE DRMed books from other stores. To do so you have to downlaod and install the ADE program, browse the other store, buy the book, download the book, do the ADE thing, and then sideload it to your device. And from what I have been reading this week, hope that you downloaded ADE program properly otherwise you could be in trouble. Or you could buy from BN and have it delivered to your Nook in under a minute. I know that there are people who choose to shop outside Amazon and BN for their devices but I think it is safe to say that they are in the minority. Heck, I would guess that they are in the minority on this site. So Borders is a partial investor in the Kobo, as I understand it not a majority owner and possibly somewhere between 10-20%. The device allows people buy books from other sites and download them to the Kobo with about the same level of difficulty. So they are not making a ton on the sale of the device and they are selling a device that is easily used to read books from other stores. Great for the customer but bad for Borders.