Border’s ebook reader is now official. The Kobo produced device will be available on June 17th for $149 featuring a 6" e-Ink display, 1GB of internal storage, and an SD card slot. This is a very aggressive price point when considering its closest competition, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, both clock in at $259.
While the device has a price advantage when compared to its competition, it lacks any sort of built-in wireless connectivity, so books can't be bought directly on the device. Outside of this caveat, Borders is taking an aggressive approach to how books are purchased and where they can be read. Border's Kobo e-reader site touts, "Borders eBooks won't tie you to one particular device. Buy an eBook at Borders.com or through our apps and download it instantly to your choice of devices—popular smartphones, eReaders, or your PC."
The Kobo e-reader will ship preloaded with 100 classic books, and will have over a million e-books available for purchase. Cheap hardware, a broad title library, and a platform agnostic approach may be a strong enough combination for Borders to grab a piece of the ebook market.
Although the hardware doesn’t launch until June 17th, the Kobo eBooks app is already available for iPhone and iPad.
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