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Originally Posted by AnemicOak
Do we really know that the lack of Kobo in the US market is all Kobo's decision though? They lost Best Buy and Fry's as retailers (we don't know why), Family Christian went bankrupt, many indie stores will now only order the devices and no longer stock them, etc. I've seen nothing to indicate that they wouldn't be happy to get their devices into another larger B&M retailer, nor do I know they don't have someone actively pursuing such things. We know that they don't seem to be focusing much marketing to the US market (although I'm not sure the level of marketing other places either).
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Not sure which is the chicken and which is the egg with Kobo getting into the US market (no b+m outlets so no exposure or no exposure so no b+m want to take them on), but there have been a number of comments reported from upper management at Kobo that the US market wasn't their primary focus. Kobo has always been the "cheaper" option and their original entry into the market was the catalyst for prices on e-ink devices dropping. That also means that likely they are working on tighter margins and it doesn't make business sense to spend what would be required to get a foothold in the U.S. It wouldn't totally surprise me though to see Kobo take another run at the U.S. with Amazon taking their prices back up to a premium level and the Canadian dollar having dropped back down against the U.S.