Well, looks like the Kobo Arc is dead in the water. The new Kindle Fire is going to be more powerful than the old (thus way more powerful than the Arc) - AND cost only $159. Even if it too lacks a dedicated GPU and microSD slot (the latter's a given, of course), it will blow the Arc away.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/...pt-14-for-159/