[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by larand

I feel the same way. I'd prefer an epub reader, but I just ordered a Paperwhite because the Kobo store wouldn't accept my repeated efforts to order a Kobo Glo. There are so many nice things about Kobo, but customer service and device availability in the US aren't among them.

I decided to take a chance and ordered the Kobo Aura H2O from Chapters. It came in 4 days and is a very nice Reader. I'm glad I decided to do it.

When I realized I was facing an uphill battle to get the Kobo, I looked around. The Nook is too hobbled--only 500 MB available for sideloading--and I've never liked the UI when I checked them out at the B&N store locally. That basically leaves Amazon, since Sony is out of the business.

When all I had was my 650, I bought a nook STR at Radio Shack for about $20 when they were getting rid of them. I bought it as a spare and I too did not care for the UI.

While I prefer for a variety of reasons to buy from someone who isn't Amazon, the hard cold fact is that they are the 800-lb. gorilla of the e-book business in America, and they have the best customer service in my experience (My first e-reader was a first-gen Kindle). Were I in Canada, where Kobo is common, I wouldn't even think twice about Amazon, but here in the States there aren't many good alternatives. I wish Kobo would get their act together in the US, but until they do, my business will be going elsewhere.

I would not be bothered buying a Reader from Amazon if they had one that had what I wanted. Amazon gives it's users what Amazon thinks they want and because of that, it's the most inflexible Reader in terms of how an eBook looks on screen. The average user is stuck the way Amazon thinks eBooks should look.

Another issue is that a lot of people don't know of Kobo. They know of B&N and they might know of Sony, but since Sony is out of the Reader business, that's a no go. They won't be knowing about Onyx or Pocketbook and the lesser known Readers, forget it. So what the choices are for eInk are rather limited in the US.

Kobo needs to get the H2O in to the independent bookstores with a good display right at the front of the stores. But it would be better to get Kobo's in Staples, Best Buy, and other big retail shops in the US. But Kobo should make sure the displays are good. I was in Wal-Mart recently and I could not find a Kindle display.