Thursday, March 25, 2010

EBook device Price Wars?


Has anyone got a clue who is going to dominate the ebook market? Will publishers master the art of direct marketing and go direct? Will Amazon offer the appeal of a one stop shop for all digital content on a myriad of platforms? Will the iPad create the iTunes moment? Or will others come to the for?

One of the pretenders is Indigo’s Kobo who until now have played the content store and reader application game. However they now have launched a cheap e-reader, eink ‘lookie likie’ which is just that except is lands at just $150! So for a lot less than a Kindle you get the same experience and access to the same books but ones that can be read on other devices and other platforms. Forget the clunky connection via USB, the somewhat awkward keys, the childish looking big blue control pad and the reduced storage, this is a cheap and worthy competitor. It even comes pre-loaded with 100 public-domain titles.

But there are others waiting to pitch for your money and even Sony must be feeling the heat as they have cut the price of their Pocket Edition device by $30 to $170 through to April 3. Prices on Sony's more advanced e-readers, including the $300 Touch Edition and the $400 Daily Edition remain the same.

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