Kobo

Gear Diary’s End of 2011 eBook Guide

Did you receive or are you expecting to get an eReader this holiday season? Or maybe you’re planning on using your holiday bonus to finally snap one up! Either way, it’s the end of 2011, and we’ve got a deep bench of ebook readers at a variety of price points, including some fairly recent price cuts. There aren’t too many rumors about updates heading into 2012, so let’s take a look at where we stand, the pros and cons for each store and device, as well as some tips on how to find books from more sources than just Amazon…

Gear Bits

eReader Critical Mass and Other Vacation Tech Tidbits

During my week away I noticed that eReaders seem to have hit critical mass. Yes, this year, more than any other, saw Kindle’s, nook’s and iPads in use on the beach and at the pool. (Interestingly, I did not see a single Kindle fire!) I have seen an uptick in the use of devices over the past few years but this year seemed to show a huge jump in their presence. In fact, a cursory look this past Saturday saw MORE electronic devices than dead-tree reading material at the pool. But that was only a small part of the tech…

eBooks, Reviews

Sony Reader WiFi PRS-T1 Review

We’ve talked about Sony’s ebook business many times on Gear Diary, but we finally have the chance to review one of the units! Today we’re taking a look at the PRS-T1, aka the Sony Reader Wifi, their newest device. This is a touchscreen, eInk reader, and it just had a price drop, to $129! With a new price and a sleek style, can it compete with the Kindle and NOOK markets? Read on to find out! Hardware: I love my Kindle 3, but it can’t hold a candle to the build quality of this Sony Reader. The body is plastic,…

News

Zinio’s on Fire with $25 Shopping Perks and Availability on Amazon Fire

Zinio isn’t about to let Apple and Amazon slow down their momentum. No way, no how. And to help make sure they remain the eMag service of choice they are introducing a shopping perk program that puts a $25 credit into the accounts of all new Zinio registrants from now until March 2012. Better still, this credit can be used to purchase magazines across the company’s entire global newsstand. In addition, the Zinio app is now available in the Amazon Appstore. The timing is key since many of us will be getting our net Kindle fire’s today. As Chris Wilkes, vice…

News

Kobo Touch Gets a “Price Drop” with Some Ad Support

It looks like Amazon’s “Special offers” strategy is contagious! Kobo, the #3 ebook retailer is being acquired by the Rakuten, the “Japanese Amazon”, and they are already looking to copy some of Amazon’s success. The most obvious example of this is that they will be offering an ad-supported Kobo Touch for $99. This new “product” will allow Kobo to have a reader at the $99 price point “sweetspot” without breaking the bank since sponsors will foot some of the bill. Fortunately, Kobo is taking the same discreet approach as Amazon by placing the ads on the screen saver and home screen…

News

HP TouchPad – Beware the (non) Deals

Just over two months ago HP created market hysteria by killing off the TouchPad tablet and then dropping the price for quick sell-off to $99 for the 16GB and $149 for the 32GB version. In a dazzling internet-breaking weekend, a variety of sites posted and quickly sold out of the TouchPad at those prices. All of which is nice history, but it is relevant because now we are starting to see some stock of the TouchPad trickling out to a few deals sites, Amazon.com and HP itself. All of this before the anticipated final rush of TouchPad inventory made to…

News

Results of the “What’s Your Primary eBookstore” Poll

The votes are in, and I know you’re all thrilled to learn the results of our “What’s your primary ebookstore” poll. As it turns out, Gear Diary readers break down fairly similar to what’s widely assumed about ebook demographics. Amazon’s Kindle was overwhelmingly first, with B&N pulling a solid second place, but far behind Kindle’s numbers. Meanwhile, iBooks and Kobo duked it out for the remaining share, with one vote for “Other”. So what does this mean? As I said, this was highly unscientific, and you could argue there’s a lot of factors skewing the results: our readers may be…

eBooks

What’s Your Primary eBookstore?

Kobo is like the Rodney Dangerfield of eBookstores — they get no respect! Here they are, pumping out app after app for every smartphone platform, pushing the social envelope with “Reading Life”, created a touch-based ebook reader…yet they’re still an also-ran. As Nate over at The Digital Reader notes, Kobo never gets mentioned alongside B&N and Amazon, and his sources indicate Kobo has, at most, 5% of the ebook market. Still, for a tiny presence Kobo has a big voice. They promote themselves heavily, so they often get coverage on blogs, but in my conversations with everyday people I’ve only…

eBooks, Editorials

B&N Pulls 100 DC Comics Titles in Protest of Kindle Fire

I want to root for B&N. They’re fighting for survival, and facing off against a seriously tough market. But their behavior this week makes me think the wheels are coming off a bit at B&N HQ, and that fear and stress, not strategy, are running the show right now. They’ve pulled 100 DC Comics titles from their physical stores (the titles are still available online), all over anger regarding DC’s exclusive deal with Amazon to bring the same 100 titles to the Kindle (Fire and tablet apps). Teleread picked up this report from Bleeding Cool about Amazon’s exclusivity: Well now…

eBooks

B&N Drops Support for Blackberries

Bad news for Blackberry and B&N fans; you’ll have to pick sides soon. B&N is notifying Blackberry users that effective January 1st, they’re dropping all support for their eReader app. Of course, if you want to go through contortions, you can always sideload your books via USB. Or you could switch to Kobo or Amazon, both of whom offer fully supported ebook apps for Blackberry. According to Crackberry, this is the email B&N has sent to affected users: We are writing to inform you about important changes being made to the BN eReader software for BlackBerry. Changes to the BN…

eBooks, Editorials

State of the eBook: It’s a Post-Kindle Fire World!

In case you missed it, Amazon debuted not one (or even two) but FOUR new Kindle models this week. Even more shocking, only one of them was rumored! Apparently, Amazon has hired Apple’s rumor crackdown team; either that or everyone was so excited for an Amazon tablet we didn’t see the signs of new Kindles right under our noses. So here’s the new Kindle family: -Kindle: $79 [eInk] -Kindle Touch Wifi: $99 [eInk] -Kindle Touch Wifi+3G: $149 [eInk] -Kindle Fire (Android tablet: $199 [color] Note that the three eInk Kindle prices are the “special offers” versions. Non-subsidized Kindles are available…

News

New Sony Reader Leaks — How Badly Do They WANT to Fail???

Big news if you’re a Sony fan! A Dutch site has leaked pictures and specifications of the new Sony Readers. (The same ones Sony has been denying were coming) They look…well, let’s check out the specs and then I’ll give my opinion. Translated from Google: Description The Sony PRS-T1 watching his brother looks on Mobile, the Xperia, with its curves and high quality chrome finish. Thin and light, so easy to take. The Sony PRS-T1 weighs only 168 grams. The screen is of the highest quality and provides optimal reading conditions. And while the battery will not suffer it. The Sony PRS-T1 read it one…

News

RIP Microsoft Reader

If you used a Pocket PC/Windows Mobile device, you probably were somewhat familiar with Microsoft Reader. It was Microsoft’s answer to the niche ebook market, though it was left behind as Mobipocket was purchased by Amazon, eReader by Fictionwise (and the combined entity by B&N) and of course the rise of dedicated ebook readers like the Kindle and NOOK. Still, it was one of the early ebook pioneers, and now Microsoft is putting it out of its misery. Before you wail and gnash your teeth, though, Microsoft is doing this in a very orderly fashion. They’re giving almost a full-year…

Reviews

Kindle Cloud Reader iPad Review: Simple to Use, Awesome to Behold!

Carly highlighted the new Amazon Cloud Reader a couple of days ago, which provided a web-based solution for reading – and purchasing – Kindle books from Amazon.com on pretty much any device regardless of native app support (except for the BlackBerry Playbook, which is just in a woeful state at this point). While many companies, Amazon included, have discussed moving more apps to platform-independent HTML5, the timing of this release seems to good to be true, as Carly indicated with her ‘Don’t Tread on Kindle’ tagline. We have just seen a rash of changes, starting with Kobo, then Amazon, and…

eBooks, Editorials

When Is an eReader an Impulse Buy?

Amazon started selling the Kindle 3G With Special Offers (“Kindeal 3G) in May, for $164 – a drop of 25 from the full non-ad-supported version. Two weeks ago, they dropped that price further, to $139. This week, they have started selling the refurbished Kindle WiFi for $100 and the refurb Kindle 3G for $130. These are not ad-supported versions of the device, but the full versions that sell for $139 and $189 respectively, in their non-refurb models. This sure looks like the typical inventory-clearing moves of a manufacturer about to introduce a new model. The current generation was introduced right around one year ago, and speculation…

eBooks, Editorials

Apple’s in-App Sales Policy — an Intimidation Tactic?

There was so much drama and upheaval in the eBook, magazine, and subscription services on iOS yesterday as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others caved to Apple’s demands that they either get a 30% cut of in-app sales or all links to external purchasing systems be removed, that it is easy to assume that all this comes down to one word – GREED. But what if it comes down to one different word. What if instead of this being all about Apple and the word “greed”, what if it all comes down to Apple and the word “Amazon”? What if…

eBooks

And … the Nook App Update Removes Store Links from iOS

Carly said it best – A picture is worth 1,000 words… Carly just posted about Amazon removing store links from their Kindle app. Now Barnes & Noble has done the same. Here is the description of their update: What’s New in Version 2.1.2 You can read any NOOK Book you have purchased on this updated NOOK for iPhone app, however the Shop link has been removed so to buy NOOK Books from your iPhone, open your Safari browser and go to nookbooks.com. This is just the latest in an evolving saga that has basis in a single Apple policy they…

eBooks

Kindle App Removes Store Links from iOS

A picture is worth 1,000 words… Amazon has updated the Kindle app to reflect Apple’s new rules, namely that you cannot link to an external store in an iOS application. Will this impact buying habits? Only time will tell, but one thing is clear: we, as consumers, are losing. Spotify, Netflix, Rhapsody, NOOK, Kobo, Google Books and now the Kindle have all undergone dramatic changes that will require major adjustments to how we shop on an iOS device. Will this change how you shop for books? Will you be holding off on updating your Kindle app? Sound off in the…

Editorials

How Can Apple Improve iBooks without Ruining Other eBook Stores?

Something very fishy is going on at Apple. It looks like they’re taking in-app purchasing very seriously, and are enforcing what has been rumored for months: eBookstores can no longer link to their respective stores in Safari in any way, even for account sign-ups. Kobo was forced to change over, as did NOOKkids; Google Books has gone entirely MIA from iOS. Plus, the Wall Street Journal has removed all links and in-app sales options. If book sales are not through Apple, they can’t offer anything in-app. Obviously this has negative implications for consumers, annoys developers and content partners, and for…

eBooks, Editorials

Borders Is Dead, and Are eBooks to Blame?

As you may remember, back in February Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This, in theory, would have let them reorganize, deal with their debts, and potentially walk away leaner, meaner, and ready to throw down against B&N, Amazon, and the rising ebook threat. In theory. The reality has turned out to be much, much sadder, as Borders will be liquidated, all 11,000 or so employees will be laid off, and a once-powerful bookstore will be a footnote in history. Needless to say, I’m very sad to see this occur, but I’m also not surprised. This was a long time…

eBooks

Google Takes First Steps Towards Attacking Amazon

Looks like Google Books is taking some tentative steps towards being more than just a hobby. The folks at Google have fired a shot across the bow of Amazon, B&N, and Kobo by partnering with iRiver to offer an ebook reader with integrated Google Books access. According to the Google Blog: We built the Google eBooks platform to be open to all publishers, retailers and manufacturers. Manufacturers like iRiver can use Google Books APIs and services to connect their devices to the full Google eBooks catalog for out-of-the-box access to a complete ebookstore. You can also store your personal ebooks…

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