US Kobo Sales double?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by 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.

Kobo should have asked you. You clearly have your finger on the pulse of the very niche market that you know a tiny bit about.

[PeterT]

And what about the buttons???

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by PeterT

And what about the buttons???

No need for on device buttons anymore since Kobo sells the buttons separately.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Kobo should have asked you. You clearly have your finger on the pulse of the very niche market that you know a tiny bit about.

Kobo sold out of the Libra 2 rather quickly. That is an indication that people want such a Reader without color.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

No need for on device buttons anymore since Kobo sells the buttons separately.

Apart from the fact that some of us (at least ME) do not want to hold a separate item just to change pages (as NO I DON'T LIKE swipe to turn).

Additionally the buttons also wake the device from sleep.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

No need for on device buttons anymore since Kobo sells the buttons separately.

And no need for a BW Libra since the Libra Colour also does BW.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kobo sold out of the Libra 2 rather quickly. That is an indication that people want such a Reader without color.

Only if it has buttons. We don't want a reader without buttons. No one wants a reader without buttons!

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kobo sold out of the Libra 2 rather quickly. That is an indication that people want such a Reader without color.

Or maybe there just wasn't all that many of them to unload, and they priced them right to move them? The number they sold could be relatively meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

[haertig]

"Sales doubled" is rather meaningless taken out of context. You kind of need to know what the actual numbers are to make use of the "double" information. That could be a significant jump, or it could be a meaningless statistic.

It's like when you read some study about medical risks of something. "The risks doubled!" sounds scary, but it's relatively meaningless if your chances were originally "1 in a million" and now they are "2 in a million". Yes, technically the risk has doubled. But it's nowhere near as significant a jump as if your risk was originally 1 in 4, and now it's 2 in 4.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

No need for on device buttons anymore since Kobo sells the buttons separately.

That's a good one. If only they wouldn't sell they external buttons for ~€30.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

That's a good one. It only they wouldn't sell they external buttons for ~€30.

The price doesn't matter. A remote is not the same as device buttons, it's an additional device one must hold (I'm nearsighted and cannot read with my ereader on a table or desk). So no, it's in no way a replacement for buttons.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by John F

Were ebook sales mentioned anywhere in the article?

eink hardware sales are nice, but if everyone is reading on their phone/tablet ...?

'Everyone' who READS (more than a few minutes at a shot) does not use a phone.
I don't (e-ink), so everyone else doesn't mentality is ruining options. Sales under nnn,nnn per month must be a bad product. The design effort has been paid. Now it is just shelf space. My dad bought a HP35 calculator. HP figured a few engineers would pay $400 (1970's). They sold out fast. Ha, they could not make them fast enough and went back to the design and cost reduced the case and keyboard (and the price came down to $150 over time) RPN

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Well, some of us don't. What's so strange about it? For me, the main attraction of books is the text, not the images.

There are 900+ paperbacks in my storeroom. 99% the only color (not counting the yellowing pages) is the cover. My Kobo's do the main task perfectly.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kobo sold out of the Libra 2 rather quickly. That is an indication that people want such a Reader without color.

It is an indication they wanted BUTTONS.
Personally, I think it was a poor move to discontinue the L2 (b&w) just because they came out with a color version (The form factor was a selling point). Maybe they understand the general populaces better and did it to avoid the returns from the ones that can't read the specs. "But I wanted the Color version"

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by theducks

My dad bought a HP35 calculator. HP figured a few engineers would pay $400 (1970's). They sold out fast.
...
RPN

They thought companies would buy them for senior engineers.

What happened was that droves of engineers bought one with their own money. Even some students bought one.