Why Does the Aura HD Exist?

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

I think the reason behind a premium e-reader is to attract the premium ebook customer: one who is happy to buy the top of the line ereader rather than the budget model or a general-use tablet might also be more likely to buy significantly more books than the average customer.

If Kobo is only breaking even on selling devices, and expects the profits to come from ebook sales, then increasing the spend per customer is probably quite important. I imagine one customer who spends $500 per year on ebooks is worth a lot more than 100 customers who spend $5 each.

Could backfire with a customer like me, I do buy some books, but with a reading habit of around 100 books a year, I use the library more often than not. Be too dead broke to buy a premium reader otherwise, LOL!

[Quexos]

The Aura exists to give us false hopes of a better reader, to make us believe that this is the ultimate experience in reading. Then the software screws-up and we find ourselves right where we started, except with a few bucks less in our wallets.

Also it exists to bring in money for its maker.

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by graycyn

Could backfire with a customer like me, I do buy some books, but with a reading habit of around 100 books a year, I use the library more often than not. Be too dead broke to buy a premium reader otherwise, LOL!

Same here. And when I do buy books it's from Sony store because of all those $25 certificates I got years ago at $15/each

[Ken Maltby]

I don't see the size as anything special, I don't see that as a big factor in its marketability. Now its having the highest available eink screen resolution and an excellent frontlight, that is where the HD comes in and that may account for the demand.

As to tying their ereader customers to their book store, that seems to be a major driver for their firmware design and development. I bought exactly one ebook from Kobo prior to purchasing my two AuraHDs and none afterwards. I won't tie my ereaders or my ebooks to someone else's servers.

Luck;
Ken

[ottdmk]

The only thing Kobo does to tie you to their book store is to make it the most convenient option for buying books. By making the choice to use stock Adobe DRM, Kobo's opened their devices to the greatest range of e-book retailers possible. And sideloading, while not quite as convenient as buying from Kobo & downloading onto the reader is quite simple & straightforward, imho.

I think the Aura HD exists to differentiate Kobo from the competition. When the Glo was announced there was a lot of "well, it's just a Paperwhite without the Amazon advantage" stuff out there. The Aura is significantly different from any other mainstream e-ink reader and got Kobo a lot of attention.

Now if I can just somehow scare up $192 (taxes incl) to buy one... :-D

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

Limited edition because they seem to have bought an existing batch of screens (as opposed to ordering screens for themselves) that the original orderer decided to not buy after all and built a rather shoddy e-reader around them (everything I've seen of the Aura makes it look like a rush job).

That rumour was denied both by Kobo and by eInk.

Regards,
David