Borders launches new e-book store, Kobo apps

Just like the Kindle and Nook, Borders’ Kobo platform is now available on mobile devices as a special app, and also on PCs.

Borders wants to take a 17% bite out of the e-book market by this time next year. That is a realistic goal for the industry that currently has three other major competitors – Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Apple.

Borders was the last major book retailer to bring an e-reading device to the market, though it was one of the first to sell electronic readers as it has been peddling Sony’s Reader devices for years.

At $150, the Kobo positions itself as one of the most affordable e-readers on the market. Today’s announcement expands the Kobo platform to Android and Blackberry. Those mobile operating systems are the first to get Borders’ e-reader app, which is available as a free download.

Additionally, Borders launched a PC-based version of its e-book store, at ebooks.borders.com.