I have been as Vocal as any about Kobo's supply chain restraints in the U.S., and wanting to focus on their core markets first. I cannot blame them at all for this, being the unabashed capitalist that I am
I think that Kobo is hearing us loud and clear on this, and they are pushing their production as hard as they can to get them to the States. I would also hope that they are preparing a great marketing blitz for the U.S. market as well. They need to advertise "Freedom, Form, Functionality" over the Paperwhite and the now out-of-date Nook.
I really think that Kobo has the potential to break out and become a big seller in the U.S. market. The Nooks are buggy, and Amazon has seemingly botched the Paperwhite launch with inferior hardware.
If Kobo was smart, really smart, they would create an app that would pull your Amazon library from your Kindle (.mobi) and automatically move them over to your new Kobo. What an easing of an upgrade hesitation that would be for current older Kindle owners to have an easy way to move everything over to their new Kobo.
Hop to it!