Kobo Touch Pricing - Whitcoulls

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sbowness

225 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

#91393 12-Oct-2011 16:03

I sometimes wonder whether Whitcoulls perform any market research. The Kobo Touch has finally be launched here at a nose-bleed price of $279. Sony's new PRS-T1 has a pre-order price of $230.

Interestingly, in the US the Kobo is only USD129 to Sony's USD149. On paper, the Sony looks marginally better hardware.

It doesn't seem to make sense and I wonder how long it will be before Whitcoulls has to drop the price.

robbyp

1199 posts

Uber Geek

#532428 12-Oct-2011 16:53

sbowness: I sometimes wonder whether Whitcoulls perform any market research. The Kobo Touch has finally be launched here at a nose-bleed price of $279. Sony's new PRS-T1 has a pre-order price of $230.

Interestingly, in the US the Kobo is only USD129 to Sony's USD149. On paper, the Sony looks marginally better hardware.

It doesn't seem to make sense and I wonder how long it will be before Whitcoulls has to drop the price.

Yes the sony one looks very nice, and looks to also play audio files. I was looking at a kindle,but the new ones that ship to NZ don't look like they play audio anymore :(, and they don't appear to ship the kindle touch or fire to NZ. The Sony one looks to be a good compromise. These things will only drop in price anyway

sbowness

225 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

#532546 12-Oct-2011 21:39

My Kindle Keyboard (nee 3) is still fully functional, although my pathological urge to upgrade is starting to kick in. I like the look of the Kindle Touch and expect that they'll offer that overseas eventually. My mother has the original Kobo and I feel the need to upgrade that too but not at that price.

crackrdbycracku

1168 posts

Uber Geek

#539994 1-Nov-2011 17:53

Yeah,

I am in the market for an eReader and I leaning towards Kobo on the grounds that there is a greater range of books available, ManyBooks for free stuff and eBooks.com for buying books.

To me it comes down to the fact that the Kobo runs ePub (giving access to more books cheaper) but at current pricing is about $100 more than a Kindle

Vs

Kindle is either tied to the Amazon store or I have to convert on my laptop using Caliber (I think I got that right), but it is cheaper than Kobo.

At present I am waiting for the price of Kobo to come down, $100 is ten books. I can wait.

Anything I am missing?

Didn't anybody tell you I was a hacker?

Bung

6477 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#539999 1-Nov-2011 18:03

crackrdbycracku:
Anything I am missing?

Have you dismissed the cheaper Sony mentioned in the 1st post? Kobo aren't the only epub readers.

crackrdbycracku

1168 posts

Uber Geek

#540003 1-Nov-2011 18:10

Bung:
crackrdbycracku:
Anything I am missing?

Have you dismissed the cheaper Sony mentioned in the 1st post? Kobo aren't the only epub readers.

Good point, I'll check the Sony Store out. I can't remember where I read it but I remember reading somewhere that Sony was trying some sort of tied-in-to-buying-your-books-from-us thing with their eReders similar to Amazon.

Didn't anybody tell you I was a hacker?

miguelwrang

121 posts

Master Geek

#540075 1-Nov-2011 21:32

crackrdbycracku:

Anything I am missing?

Multiple places where you can buy your books from doesn't necessarily translate into a greater range of books. Last time I checked, Amazon's catalogue dwarfed ebooks.com, the kobo store, sony's store etc. Barnes and Noble comes close but you have to break the drm for it to work on a Kobo. Amazon has been active in signing author exclusive deals as well.

Further to that, a lot of the noteworthy ebook sellers that are independent from the hardware manufacturers also sell mobi books e.g. smashwords, Baen etc. ManyBooks also does free mobi books.

robbyp

1199 posts

Uber Geek

#540083 1-Nov-2011 21:39

crackrdbycracku:
Bung:
crackrdbycracku:
Anything I am missing?

Have you dismissed the cheaper Sony mentioned in the 1st post? Kobo aren't the only epub readers.

Good point, I'll check the Sony Store out. I can't remember where I read it but I remember reading somewhere that Sony was trying some sort of tied-in-to-buying-your-books-from-us thing with their eReders similar to Amazon.

I think the sony touch one has the edge over what else is available in NZ. The only downside is that it isn't 3g, but that to me is minor, as you can just use wifi. If only the kindle touch was being sold to NZers..

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crackrdbycracku

1168 posts

Uber Geek

#540214 2-Nov-2011 10:03

robbyp:
crackrdbycracku:
Bung:
crackrdbycracku:
Anything I am missing?

Have you dismissed the cheaper Sony mentioned in the 1st post? Kobo aren't the only epub readers.

Good point, I'll check the Sony Store out. I can't remember where I read it but I remember reading somewhere that Sony was trying some sort of tied-in-to-buying-your-books-from-us thing with their eReders similar to Amazon.

I think the sony touch one has the edge over what else is available in NZ. The only downside is that it isn't 3g, but that to me is minor, as you can just use wifi. If only the kindle touch was being sold to NZers..

For me it's "If only the Kindle would work with Epub...". Yeah I can convert but on holiday that without a computer that would be a real pain.

Didn't anybody tell you I was a hacker?