Clara HD Walmart Wasteland with You, Too?

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I ordered my Clara from Walmart on Wednesday and it arrived Thursday. It was about 26 hours.

Mine also arrived that quickly.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

As long as Walmart continues to sell Kobos on their website, that's good enough for me. (Is it good enough for Kobo though? Who can say?)

I feel the big problem with this approach is that the lack of a physical presence doesn’t help grow market share. Yet the displays I saw were horrible. There was so little care given to the displays, I’m surprised the display models hadn’t been installed upside down! I can’t imagine they moved the needle at all for market share.

Kobo should get their eReaders into Targets.


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[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Cootey

I feel the big problem with this approach is that the lack of a physical presence doesn’t help grow market share. Yet the displays I saw were horrible. There was so little care given to the displays, I’m surprised the display models hadn’t been installed upside down! I can’t imagine they moved the needle at all for market share.

Kobo should get their eReaders into Targets.


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Back in 2012 when I bought my first Sony ereader I got it from Target, which at that time carried several brands. I can't remember if Kobo was one of them or not, I just remember that there was a large display area with multiple models.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cootey

I feel the big problem with this approach is that the lack of a physical presence doesn’t help grow market share. Yet the displays I saw were horrible. There was so little care given to the displays, I’m surprised the display models hadn’t been installed upside down! I can’t imagine they moved the needle at all for market share.

Kobo should get their eReaders into Targets.

I can't say Target would be a better partner (though I do far prefer them).

In theory, Walmart should have been a great partner. They are wanting to take on Amazon and partnering with Kobo was a simple way to add an entire e-book system to their line without having to start from scratch.

I can only imagine that some higher-up at Walmart changed their mind about competing with Amazon some time after the partnership with Kobo was signed but before it actually rolled out to the stores.

[JSWolf]

I do remember when Borders carried Kobo.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I can't say Target would be a better partner (though I do far prefer them).



In theory, Walmart should have been a great partner. They are wanting to take on Amazon and partnering with Kobo was a simple way to add an entire e-book system to their line without having to start from scratch.



I can only imagine that some higher-up at Walmart changed their mind about competing with Amazon some time after the partnership with Kobo was signed but before it actually rolled out to the stores.

*Something* happened. The rollout was sloppy at best. I’ve seen in the tech industry where one company buys out another and a clash of intercorporate cultures causes failure. Sometimes the employees sabotage the merger. Somebody over at Walmart wasn’t happy about pushing Kobos, or simply didn’t understand what was needed, because we all commented at the time how baffling the displays were. Since my Japanese is fairly weak, I have no idea how things worked out for Walmart on the other end in Japan. Maybe that was a disaster, too! LOL


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[Cootey]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I do remember when Borders carried Kobo.

I had forgotten about that! I got the iPad in April 2010 Fresh off the lot. I was super excited about the books at the time, and didn’t see why I would need an ereader since I had the fabulous iPad with it’s ability to load all the ereader apps that I wanted. Later, I discovered the virtues of fabulous battery life and having a clean, undistracted reading environment. However, I do remember seeing the Kobos at Borders, and that was one reason why I installed the Kobo ereader app. I was glad, too, because eventually All my Borders ebooks magically appeared in my kobo app.


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