Kobo Aura One is REAL!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I got five stores in my area that are Kobo dealers. However I bought my Kobo from Chapters in January. It was easy to do and fast shipping.

Sent from my XT1528

By purchasing from Chapters, you take advantage of the Canadian exchange rate. I was able to buy my H2O for less than I would have anyplace else because of the exchange rate.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Zeebra

I like the bigger screen size that Kobo is offering. Would be nice if Amazon upped their screen size in the Voyage or Oasis line. Perhaps have 2 versions of each with a standard 6" and a large 7.8" screen.

Given how overpriced the Oasis is now at 6", it would be astronomical at 7.8". A 7.8" Voyage would be more reasonable especially at the price of the Oasis (or not too much more than that).

[Jason90]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given how overpriced the Oasis is now at 6", it would be astronomical at 7.8". A 7.8" Voyage would be more reasonable especially at the price of the Oasis (or not too much more than that).

The oasis is only expensive because of it's included leather cover though,besides the wedge design wouldn't work on a much larger device so no worries there.

If e-ink are already mass producing 8" screens for one customer they could easily do so for another so depending on how the kindle team feel about the Aura one we could quite easily see a competing design come out before the end of the year.

I am slightly hopeful that amazon might actually pull their finger out and release a liquavista based device,i know the source isn't the best but amazon did release a liquavista video a year ago on youtube about the team developing the technology so it certainly isn't dead,this year marks the 10th anniversary of the companies founding so i'm strangely optimistic.

[JSWolf]

A Liquavista device is coming soon. It'll be released on Mother's day.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Jason90

If e-ink are already mass producing 8" screens for one customer they could easily do so for another so depending on how the kindle team feel about the Aura one we could quite easily see a competing design come out before the end of the year.

The screen itself is not the biggest problem. It will be too late for this years release if Amazon starts the process of designing only now. It takes more effort than just blowing everything up and then certified and produced. Another thing to consider is demand. There would have been a successor to the DX already if that screen size is economically viable. What one company considers viable, another may not. It doesn't matter how much money you make if the profit margin is too low.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

The screen itself is not the biggest problem. It will be too late for this years release if Amazon starts the process of designing only now. It takes more effort than just blowing everything up and then certified and produced. Another thing to consider is demand. There would have been a successor to the DX already if that screen size is economically viable. What one company considers viable, another may not. It doesn't matter how much money you make if the profit margin is too low.

Amazon has shown they're willing to throw money away on things before. They love investing the stockholders money almost as fast as they can make it.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Amazon has shown they're willing to throw money away on things before. They love investing the stockholders money almost as fast as they can make it.

No they are not anymore. Voyage and Oasis are sold with a profit, and I highly doubt that Basic and PW are sold below cost. Investing all the profits away is something completely different than running a charity (as in having exactly $0 profit). Amazon makes a boat load of profit. If something flops (e.g. fire phone) then overall they are still not losing money, they simply have less money they have availlable to reinvest.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

No they are not anymore. Voyage and Oasis are sold with a profit, and I highly doubt that Basic and PW are sold below cost. Investing all the profits away is something completely different than running a charity (as in having exactly $0 profit). Amazon makes a boat load of profit. If something flops (e.g. fire phone) then overall they are still not losing money, they simply have less money they have availlable to reinvest.

True indeed.
What they could do though is release another larger screen reader and see what has changed on the market. That they have “all the numbers” and that is why they never released another larger screen reader has been kind of proven wrong by the Fire Phone... There’s is always a chance that people don’t know what they are missing and really appreciate changes that they couldn’t imagine would be necessary before they saw it.
I for one hope Amazon do release a larger screen reader like Kobo will...

[Atunah]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Kobo has decided to go a different route. They sell their readers here in the US to independent book stores. You can look up on their site a list of independent stores that sell their products.

Sent from my XT1528

Can someone tell where where the heck I find this? Went to the kobo site, clicked on where to buy, then clicked on USA. I ended up on some book seller site and there are no kobo's listed, menu's look more for actual book stores. Pulling up the top tiny thing to search for book stores gives me 5 stores, used book stores, but nothing about what they carry, just the address. I must be blind.
I always wanted to at least see one of those things.

They obviously have the world market covered. If I still lived in Germany, who knows what reader I might have. Might be Kobo, Tolino or some such thing.

[Blossom]

You have to call each store and see what they have in stock. It doesn't show anything but store info.

Sent from my XT1528

[Atunah]

Originally Posted by Blossom

You have to call each store and see what they have in stock. It doesn't show anything but store info.

Sent from my XT1528

Thanks, I doubt they have devices. They are half price book stores so pretty much used stuff.
Just thought it would be nice to see a Kobo in real life.

Originally Posted by johnnyb

True indeed.
What they could do though is release another larger screen reader and see what has changed on the market. That they have “all the numbers” and that is why they never released another larger screen reader has been kind of proven wrong by the Fire Phone... There’s is always a chance that people don’t know what they are missing and really appreciate changes that they couldn’t imagine would be necessary before they saw it.
I for one hope Amazon do release a larger screen reader like Kobo will...

As far as Kindles go, Amazon sells you what Amazon wants you to buy. They are not about listening to customers to find out what they want. They are about telling you this is the Kindle you want and it has all the formatting and features you want, and amazingly enough people buy into that BS.

Kobo tries to build readers that are closer to what customers want. The hardware is nice. Unfortunately they don't seem to know how to program the firmware though. Nor do they seem to understand the retail market, at least as far as the USA goes.

Amazon puts its main focus on having a second to none bookstore and reading experience. Want book, find book easily, buy book, read book, buy another book. They can get away with lackluster Kindle updates using that model because customers can find and read what they want and when they want. Kobo puts its main focus on the hardware. But MOST people don't want to have to convert book formats, use an app like calibre to manage their library, etc. Geeks here at MR do, but people most don't! Without a great bookstore and library capability, Kobo will remain on the edge of failure, much like B&N and Sony did with their eReaders.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

As far as Kindles go, Amazon sells you what Amazon wants you to buy. They are not about listening to customers to find out what they want. They are about telling you this is the Kindle you want and it has all the formatting and features you want, and amazingly enough people buy into that BS.

Kobo tries to build readers that are closer to what customers want. The hardware is nice. Unfortunately they don't seem to know how to program the firmware though. Nor do they seem to understand the retail market, at least as far as the USA goes.

Amazon puts its main focus on having a second to none bookstore and reading experience. Want book, find book easily, buy book, read book, buy another book. They can get away with lackluster Kindle updates using that model because customers can find and read what they want and when they want. Kobo puts its main focus on the hardware. But MOST people don't want to have to convert book formats, use an app like calibre to manage their library, etc. Geeks here at MR do, but people most don't! Without a great bookstore and library capability, Kobo will remain on the edge of failure, much like B&N and Sony did with their eReaders.

I think Amazon doesn't give the outliers what they want. They pander to the common customer who will use what they are given.
Most don't care about hyphenation or what format as long as it shows up on their device easily and without much effort. Yes, I realize that at least 100,000 customers have jailbroke their kindles. But when you sell at least 4 million ereaders a year, that 100,000 is nothing.

So here is a for thought question:
You have a new product. Do you go to the extra time and expense to please those 10 customers or do you make more profit and pander to the 990 that just want the product to do what it says it will do?
Oh and it looks like Amazon has listened to a point on the design.
From reading other threads, it appears that 2 out of 3 heavy readers like the design of the Oasis. (Actual owners).

[Jason90]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

The screen itself is not the biggest problem. It will be too late for this years release if Amazon starts the process of designing only now. It takes more effort than just blowing everything up and then certified and produced. Another thing to consider is demand. There would have been a successor to the DX already if that screen size is economically viable. What one company considers viable, another may not. It doesn't matter how much money you make if the profit margin is too low.

True it would take more than just flipping a switch to get a new product line up and running but what I meant was Amazon would more than likely of known eink was getting ready to mass produce 8" screens and if Amazon wanted a slice of that I'm sure they could get it without too much trouble,an 8" reader is also always going to be a niche within a niche as most people would prefer a smaller more compact reader,with a few of us feeling the urge to go bigger.

I don't agree Amazon would of released a bigger device already if they were to go after this market because carta 1.2,which the aura one is based on,is the only eink screen that can match the 300ppi of the voyage/pw3 in a larger than 6" screen,carta 1.2 apparently goes all the way upto 13.3" whereas the carta 1.0 only went upto 6.8" as was the case with the H2O.

Technically now Amazon could do a 300ppi voyage-esque 9.7" if they wanted where as before they would of been limited to eink pearl,which after coming from eink carta is a tough sell.

Technology dictates product releases more so than anything,in any case I don't think Amazon would go DX size again but an 8-9" doesn't seem impossible ,especially with kobo coming out with a bigger device.

I personally think the oasis is a crazy product and if Amazon can still put out devices like that I'm sure they are capable of much wilder stuff in the future.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Jason90

If e-ink are already mass producing 8" screens for one customer they could easily do so for another so depending on how the kindle team feel about the Aura one we could quite easily see a competing design come out before the end of the year.

My personal feeling is that Amazon is not interested in producing a larger screen ereader given they did not respond to the existence of Kobo's 6.8" screen ereaders by releasing an equivalent in screen size.