US Kobo Sales double?

[jackm8]

I think that it's just bad product from Amazon that pushes people to Kobo. Decades old lies that they support .epub, and .pdf. Constant annoyances with forced updates that bring bugs into interface and break things. Missing features. Even the way that they attack harmless jailbreaks.

Kindle used to be on everyone's lips when the question was buying an eink reader. Now it's still there, but the advice is always that you should rather pay more to avoid all the annoyance stemming from Amazon.

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by jackm8

Decades old lies that they support .epub, and .pdf.

When has Amazon ever claimed to support EPUB on Kindle? I've only seen that they support it as something to be converted with Send to Kindle. PDF support came way back on the DX.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Frogm4n

When has Amazon ever claimed to support EPUB on Kindle? I've only seen that they support it as something to be converted with Send to Kindle. PDF support came way back on the DX.

When Amazon first started supporting ePub for Send to Kindle, some of their advertising made it sound as if a Kindle would natively support ePub. I suspect that was due to the people creating the advertising that couldn't tell an ePub from a physical book without a illustrated guide.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Frogm4n

When has Amazon ever claimed to support EPUB on Kindle? I've only seen that they support it as something to be converted with Send to Kindle. PDF support came way back on the DX.

I bought a DXG when it was on "fire sale" because Amazon claimed it was especially for PDFs. I should have ignored reviews and considered why it was on sale several times. It appears it was developed for the University market but a total failure.

It's far too slow for many PDFs.
At 150 dpi the resolution is lower than 167 dpi K2 or K3.
The 9.7″ @ 150 dpi is too poor for A4 datasheets and technical magazines.
It's a rubbish ereader.
I never investigated password or DRM protected PDFs on it.

Amazon is often misleading with their marketing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

In all fairness, eyes are different, and some people are more able to tolerate the lower contrast and darker background of a current color screen. I personally am not one of them.

I do also suspect that _some_ people are attached to their purchase and will defend / ignore / deny its weaknesses. It's natural. Buyers don't want to accept that they've made a booboo, or that there are better products.

Everyone who bought a color Kobo has made a mistake. If they tanked, Kobo would be back to making BW Readers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I bought a DXG when it was on "fire sale" because Amazon claimed it was especially for PDFs. I should have ignored reviews and considered why it was on sale several times. It appears it was developed for the University market but a total failure.

It's far too slow for many PDFs.
At 150 dpi the resolution is lower than 167 dpi K2 or K3.
The 9.7″ @ 150 dpi is too poor for A4 datasheets and technical magazines.
It's a rubbish ereader.
I never investigated password or DRM protected PDFs on it.

Amazon is often misleading with their marketing.

This is the biggest lie Amazon tells users.

Performance improvements, bug fixes and other general enhancements.

[cgsmom]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Everyone who bought a color Kobo has made a mistake. If they tanked, Kobo would be back to making BW Readers.

"Everyone" Seriously. I currently have 8 working ereaders. Only 2 of them are color. I love them all for different reasons and I rotate them regularly. However, if I had to start getting rid of some of them, the 2 color ones (Colorsoft SE and Clara Color) would be the last to go. I love the color. The difference in screen quality is barely noticeable to me. I only notice when they are sitting side by side.

My ideal reader would be a Nook with decent software but I’m not holding my breath.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Everyone who bought a color Kobo has made a mistake. If they tanked, Kobo would be back to making BW Readers.

A bit of an odd comment. "I don't like colour ereaders so no one likes colour ereaders" seems to be your only argument.

Most of the people I know who have purchased a Libra Colour or a Clara Colour seem to be very happy with their purchases. Can you supply your list of all the purchasers of a Kobo colour device along with proof of authenticity for their statements that they made a mistake? Please note that since you specified "everyone", finding just one purchaser of a Kobo colour device who is happy with their purchase is enough to prove your statement is false.

Perhaps an online course in recognizing logical fallacies and how to avoid committing them might be of some help? Pay attention to illicit transference.

[JSWolf]

The problem is the color Readers sold too well. So Kobo didn't feel the need to make more BW other then 6",

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Everyone who bought a color Kobo has made a mistake. If they tanked, Kobo would be back to making BW Readers.

Kobo manufactures monochrome e-readers. I’ve bought two in the last year. I haven’t bought any colour e-readers from Kobo, but I’m glad they’ve helped to double their sales in 2025 and 2026 (if the figure is correct), which is the first thing that the CEO of Kobo mentions in this article. I’m not sure they would have achieved this had they stuck to an exclusively monochrome range. The Kobo e-reader user base is far more diverse than those who simply want a 7-inch or 8-inch monochrome e-reader. We sometimes confuse our own preferences, which we repeatedly express, with those of others. I get the impression that the CEO of Kobo, judging by what he says in this article, has a much broader (and, in my opinion, more accurate) view of the reality of e-reader users. That doesn’t mean I’m not in favour of there being a parallel range, monochrome and colour, in all available sizes, just as PocketBook offers.

(My specific hope is that they’ll continue to keep a close eye on market trends, just as they did with colour e-readers, and bring us e-readers smaller than 6" soon. It’s interesting that he mentioned the rise of Xteink-type devices.)

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is the color Readers sold too well. So Kobo didn't feel the need to make more BW other then 6",

Clearly this "problem" is more of a personal thing for you (and possibly others who dislike color--or are not willing to sacrifice clarity for it), rather than being an actual problem with (or for) Kobo. I'm sure there are thousands out there wouldn't care if Kobo released/sold a single new B&W device (regardless of screen size).

[jackm8]

Originally Posted by DNSB

When Amazon first started supporting ePub for Send to Kindle, some of their advertising made it sound as if a Kindle would natively support ePub. I suspect that was due to the people creating the advertising that couldn't tell an ePub from a physical book without a illustrated guide.

Yes, I was thinking of that. I can't find it right now, but they clearly pushed .epub support for a while. As a feature, even. You can still see them mislead people via support articles like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...m13k3txFI4EvDV

All that Send to Kindle does is it converts mentioned formats into .kfx. 200mb limit, and you lose quality along with it.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Clearly this "problem" is more of a personal thing for you (and possibly others who dislike color--or are not willing to sacrifice clarity for it), rather than being an actual problem with (or for) Kobo. I'm sure there are thousands out there wouldn't care if Kobo released/sold a single new B&W device (regardless of screen size).

Yes, even as someone who prefers B&W, I thought that comment was absurd. I do like the colour covers, my wife LOVES her Libra colour, and if the success of Kobo's colour devices helps the company remain viable for longer, hooray! Perhaps by the time my Sage actually shuffles off this (induction?) coil, colour e-ink technology will have improved to the point of lessening the problems that disappoint me now.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cellaris

Kobo manufactures monochrome e-readers. I’ve bought two in the last year. I haven’t bought any colour e-readers from Kobo, but I’m glad they’ve helped to double their sales in 2025 and 2026 (if the figure is correct), which is the first thing that the CEO of Kobo mentions in this article. I’m not sure they would have achieved this had they stuck to an exclusively monochrome range. The Kobo e-reader user base is far more diverse than those who simply want a 7-inch or 8-inch monochrome e-reader. We sometimes confuse our own preferences, which we repeatedly express, with those of others. I get the impression that the CEO of Kobo, judging by what he says in this article, has a much broader (and, in my opinion, more accurate) view of the reality of e-reader users. That doesn’t mean I’m not in favour of there being a parallel range, monochrome and colour, in all available sizes, just as PocketBook offers.

(My specific hope is that they’ll continue to keep a close eye on market trends, just as they did with colour e-readers, and bring us e-readers smaller than 6" soon. It’s interesting that he mentioned the rise of Xteink-type devices.)

From all I've read, it may be that more people want larger then 6"BW then smaller.

[JSWolf]

Kobo should have realized people want a 7" BW reader when it was known Kobo was discontinuing the Libra 2 and it sold out very quickly.