[darryl]

I think many posters seem to be missing the point. Many if not most Mobileread members are by no means typical. I am not alone in having come to realise that the average user cares about very little other than convenience, price and basic reading functionality. This goes well beyond any particular hardware. It extends to the whole user experience, of which the hardware is but one part. Most people don't care about fonts. They don't care about side-loading. They don't care about drm. They don't care about sdcards. They don't care about open or closed platforms, and very few want to hack or even jailbreak their devices. They don't want to take notes or draw or plug in usb sticks or take screenshots. They are not passionate about formats, and will stay locked-in to their initial choice because they have no interest in Calibre or Apprentice Alf. We can all cheerfully delude ourselves that all people are like us and value whatever features we value. But it's just not true.

I own and use both Kindles and Kobo. Hardware wise there is little between them so far as the user experience is concerned. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I can cheerfully read on either. It is sheer fantasy to think all Kobo has to do is put its readers beside Kindles in retailers and people will choose Kobo every time. It would probably be close to 50/50 if the hardware was the only consideration. But when you take into account the whole user experience and infrastructure it will be 90% Kindle. Kobo's hardware can compete, but they are not even in the same ballpark as Amazon with everything else.