Borders to partner with Kobo to deliver ebooks

Nate the great · 12-15-2009, 05:16 PM

Borders just announced a partnership with Kobo Books (formerly Shortcovers) to open a Borders branded ebook store.

Quote:

Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) today announced a strategic investment and commercial partnership with Kobo, Inc., a global eReading service that is the newly named spin-off of Toronto-based Indigo Books & Music Inc.'s Shortcovers digital reading initiative. Through the partnership, Borders will launch a new eBook store integrated into Borders.com and powered by Kobo. In addition, Kobo will power a Borders-branded eBook store for multiple mobile devices. Sales through these Borders-branded eBook stores will be booked by Borders. Kobo's mobile applications are device neutral, which will enable consumers to purchase eBooks from Borders on popular smartphones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Android, as well as other devices. Borders and Kobo plan to launch these new services within the second quarter of 2010.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix....ews&id=1366236

********

Amazon-0, everyone not Amazon +1

Okay, that's a bit simplistic, but I'm pleased to see the one, the ebook market is getting crowded; and two, most all the new stores only sell Epub. Each new store is 1 more blow against vendor lock in, and 1 more blow in favor of universal compatibility.

Katti's Cat · 12-15-2009, 05:18 PM

for the info - will be interesting if I will still be able to buy books from them. Would hate to see the geographical restrictions locking me out. Will definetly keep an eye on it

HorridRedDog · 12-15-2009, 06:25 PM

Kobo's mobile applications are device neutral, which will enable consumers to purchase eBooks from Borders on popular smartphones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Android, as well as other devices.

Where have I seen that before. Oh yeah, Amazon and B&N.

It does not say "And other readers", just other devices (phones?).

Do we know if Kobo has epub's that work with Sony and other ereaders?

Nate the great · 12-15-2009, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HorridRedDog

Kobo's mobile applications are device neutral, which will enable consumers to purchase eBooks from Borders on popular smartphones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Android, as well as other devices.

Where have I seen that before. Oh yeah, Amazon and B&N.

It does not say "And other readers", just other devices (phones?).

Do we know if Kobo has epub's that work with Sony and other ereaders?

Yes, Sony Readers (as well as a number of other devices) are listed as compatible devices.

kjk · 12-15-2009, 06:29 PM

So are those the big 3? Amazon, B&N, and Borders now all have their own eBook distribution venues? Does Chapters have one?

BookLoverToo · 12-15-2009, 06:43 PM

Chapters-Indigo owns Kobo, so yes, but you can't use Chapters-Indigo gift cards at Kobo as far as I know.

Billjr13 · 12-15-2009, 07:04 PM

With Sony taking the Borders branding off of their ebook store it only makes sense for Borders to to try and compete with B&N for a share of the ebook market. I say competition is good.

ficbot · 12-15-2009, 08:44 PM

I say this is bad. Shortcovers was the only Canadian store. I liked that about them. I hope this doesn't change things for me. I feel that Fictionwise has been very unfriendly to non-Americans ever since the takeover by B&N...

nboshart · 12-15-2009, 09:42 PM

Indigo still controls 58% of Kobo. They've also partnered with REDGroup in Australia and a Chinese conglomerate Cheung Kong (who are mostly in real estate and development but own the "social media" mobile manufacturer, phones that concentrate on connecting to social media, INQ).

Kobo has also partnered with Smashwords and, of course, Internet Archive, so I think it's fairly safe to say they're the most 'open' of all major retailers. Also, all geographic restrictions are imposed by publishers, all device restrictions are imposed by the devices.

Anyway, 1.8 million books available free world wide on... well, everything but the Kindle.

Nate the great · 12-15-2009, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nboshart

Anyway, 1.8 million books available free world wide on... well, everything but the Kindle.

Nope. The books at the Internet Archive are freely available as downloads from IA and they come in Mobipocket. So really the content is available everywhere but the Kindle Store, but it's still available for the Kindle.

hybernation · 12-15-2009, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Amazon-0, everyone not Amazon +1

Okay, that's a bit simplistic, but I'm pleased to see the one, the ebook market is getting crowded; and two, most all the new stores only sell Epub. Each new store is 1 more blow against vendor lock in, and 1 more blow in favor of universal compatibility.

It's more then simplistic, it's misleading. Most of the people jumping on the Epub bandwagon are doing so using Adobe's DRM for Epub. YUK. Have you ever used their software? VERY restrictive. Everyone is getting locked into ONE DRM VENDOR and this is very bad. So what if you can buy the same Adobe DRM'ed vendor from more than one bookstore? You are still a victim of "vendor lock-in"!

Nate the great · 12-15-2009, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hybernation

It's more then simplistic, it's misleading. Most of the people jumping on the Epub bandwagon are doing so using Adobe's DRM for Epub. YUK. Have you ever used their software? VERY restrictive. Everyone is getting locked into ONE DRM VENDOR and this is very bad. So what if you can buy the same Adobe DRM'ed vendor from more than one bookstore? You are still a victim of "vendor lock-in"!

But if you can buy the same ebook in the same format from multiple retailers, then at some point they will all have to start competing for your money. Competition will drive the price down.

Blue Tyson · 12-15-2009, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katti's Cat

for the info - will be interesting if I will still be able to buy books from them. Would hate to see the geographical restrictions locking me out. Will definetly keep an eye on it

Shortcovers even had a lot of EXCERPTS geolocked!

DawnFalcon · 12-15-2009, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

But if you can buy the same ebook in the same format from multiple retailers, then at some point they will all have to start competing for your money. Competition will drive the price down.

Which is another reason the publishers are insisting on regional restrictions, of course, to help keep prices higher.

JSWolf · 12-16-2009, 12:06 AM

When will they learn? They changed the interface and took out all the good bits from the old one. The old interface allowed me to sort results by published date and by ePub downloadable. Now I cannot do that so eBooks that I cannot use are mixed in and I cannot have it sorted by date. Who makes these rotten decisions?

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12-15-2009, 05:18 PM	#2
Katti's Cat Wizard Posts: 2,259 Karma: 175640 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Brisbane Australia Device: Sony PRS-600	for the info - will be interesting if I will still be able to buy books from them. Would hate to see the geographical restrictions locking me out. Will definetly keep an eye on it

12-15-2009, 06:25 PM	#3
HorridRedDog Addict Posts: 322 Karma: 1592 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: PRS-600 EB-1150	Kobo's mobile applications are device neutral, which will enable consumers to purchase eBooks from Borders on popular smartphones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Android, as well as other devices. Where have I seen that before. Oh yeah, Amazon and B&N. It does not say "And other readers", just other devices (phones?). Do we know if Kobo has epub's that work with Sony and other ereaders?

12-15-2009, 06:29 PM	#5
kjk . Posts: 3,408 Karma: 5647231 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: never enough	So are those the big 3? Amazon, B&N, and Borders now all have their own eBook distribution venues? Does Chapters have one?

12-15-2009, 06:43 PM	#6
BookLoverToo Enthusiast Posts: 40 Karma: 104 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	Chapters-Indigo owns Kobo, so yes, but you can't use Chapters-Indigo gift cards at Kobo as far as I know.

12-15-2009, 07:04 PM	#7
Billjr13 Addict Posts: 357 Karma: 550002 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Colorado Device: Sony PRS 700 & 650	With Sony taking the Borders branding off of their ebook store it only makes sense for Borders to to try and compete with B&N for a share of the ebook market. I say competition is good.

12-15-2009, 08:44 PM	#8
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	I say this is bad. Shortcovers was the only Canadian store. I liked that about them. I hope this doesn't change things for me. I feel that Fictionwise has been very unfriendly to non-Americans ever since the takeover by B&N...

12-15-2009, 09:42 PM	#9
nboshart Connoisseur Posts: 65 Karma: 456 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo	Indigo still controls 58% of Kobo. They've also partnered with REDGroup in Australia and a Chinese conglomerate Cheung Kong (who are mostly in real estate and development but own the "social media" mobile manufacturer, phones that concentrate on connecting to social media, INQ). Kobo has also partnered with Smashwords and, of course, Internet Archive, so I think it's fairly safe to say they're the most 'open' of all major retailers. Also, all geographic restrictions are imposed by publishers, all device restrictions are imposed by the devices. Anyway, 1.8 million books available free world wide on... well, everything but the Kindle.

12-16-2009, 12:06 AM	#15
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,746 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	When will they learn? They changed the interface and took out all the good bits from the old one. The old interface allowed me to sort results by published date and by ePub downloadable. Now I cannot do that so eBooks that I cannot use are mixed in and I cannot have it sorted by date. Who makes these rotten decisions?