Kobo Discontinues Support for Older Kobos

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Rakuten is quite large (warning understatement), but Kobo isn't. Just like Amazon is big, but Lab126 isn't. And didn't Rakuten overpay for Kobo when they bought them, because Kobo wasn't in real great shape?

I'm guessing Kobo barely rated a small burp for Rakuten.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Could be either. They weren't supporting anything older than 2014 according to the notice.

Except they are supporting the original Touch, which is older than the Mini (September 2011) and the Kobo Glo (which came out the same time as the Mini, September 2012.)

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'm guessing Kobo barely rated a small burp for Rakuten.

Well, they bought Kobo for their customer base and IP. It is no secret that Kobo wasn't making any profit for Rakuten until years after with the use of one of their fixers.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Except they are supporting the original Touch, which is older than the Mini (September 2011) and the Kobo Glo (which came out the same time as the Mini, September 2012.)

Don't forget there were three versions of the Touch, the last released at the same time as the Glo and Mini. Stopping support for the older versions would probably be hard. And I did ask Kobo about it at a while ago. The answer was basically that they sold a lot of Touches.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Don't forget there were three versions of the Touch, the last released at the same time as the Glo and Mini. Stopping support for the older versions would probably be hard. And I did ask Kobo about it at a while ago. The answer was basically that they sold a lot of Touches.

I realize that. But how hard would it have been to upgrade the TLS for the Mini so it could still use the Kobo Store? Maybe there was hardware issue. I don't know.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I realize that. But how hard would it have been to upgrade the TLS for the Mini so it could still use the Kobo Store? Maybe there was hardware issue. I don't know.

No issue with hardware support for TLS for the Mini. The problem is that that factory firmware it reverts to does not have that support and so is unable to download firmware updates.

I didn't get around to reverting to factory and then updating before Feb. 28 to see if the factory restore image was modified but you can still use the Kobo Desktop app to update the firmware.

My Mini is on V4 firmware and was able to connect to the Kobo store when I powered it up a couple of days ago.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

No more than Kindle/Lab126 (responsible for Kindle, Echo, Fire...) have access to all of Amazon's resources.

I'm not so sure. Everybody knows that Amazon and Kindle are synonymous, which suggests that Amazon is fully vested in the product. I don't see the same relationship between Kobo and Rakuten, largely because the average Kobo customer has likely never even heard of Rakuten.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

I'm not so sure. Everybody knows that Amazon and Kindle are synonymous, which suggests that Amazon is fully vested in the product. I don't see the same relationship between Kobo and Rakuten, largely because the average Kobo customer has likely never even heard of Rakuten.

That is mainly because Amazon started out as a bookstore. Which ventured into ebooks and ereaders. Which became something much larger. The part of Amazon that does everything books is no longer a significantly large part of all of Amazon.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I own an Android tablet that has lost much of it limited usefulness with many websites no longer let it connect so I get to see unsupported protocol error messages. Oddly, it is only a year older than my Nexus 2013 but the manufacturer decided not to support any upgrades after a point upgrade (4.2-4.3??).

A bit OT from the original, I know, however I had the same problem with an Android Tablet and realised that installing Opera Mini would allow me to connect to those websites that were otherwise unavailable. It's all down to the way Opera Mini works - connecting to an Opera compression server that in turn connects to the website. Give it a try.

BobC

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

That is mainly because Amazon started out as a bookstore. Which ventured into ebooks and ereaders. Which became something much larger. The part of Amazon that does everything books is no longer a significantly large part of all of Amazon.

All I'm saying is that Rakuten may not be putting the resources into Kobo that Amazon is putting into Kindle simply because Amazon's reputation is tied directly to the Kindle brand.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

All I'm saying is that Rakuten may not be putting the resources into Kobo that Amazon is putting into Kindle simply because Amazon's reputation is tied directly to the Kindle brand.

Makes sense.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

All I'm saying is that Rakuten may not be putting the resources into Kobo that Amazon is putting into Kindle simply because Amazon's reputation is tied directly to the Kindle brand.

Originally Posted by rcentros

Makes sense.

Yes, put that way makes sense. It is also possible that there is reasons beyond willingness of both Rakuten and Amazon. Funneling money from one sub company to another , e.g. AWS to Lab126 , cannot be done without drawing attention from antitrust.