When Borders launched its Kobo e-reader earlier this year, it was kind of late to the party and also lacked many features of its competitors. Now it’s taking a new step to be relevant in the Kindle/Nook battle.
The Kobo launched with no network capability – that’s right, no 3G or Wi-Fi connections. It was priced at $150, which at the time made it substantially cheaper than any of its competitors. But now the Wi-Fi Nook is $150 and there’s a Kindle for less than $140. So the Kobo kind of became a useless choice.
Today, Borders said it will be bringing a new version of the Kobo to store shelves in October. The updated model will be $140 and will add a Wi-Fi connection.
Aesthetically, it’s pretty much the same device. Under the hood, though, it has a new screen, more powerful battery, and a faster processor. However, Cnet reports that the E-Ink technology isn’t up to snuff and not as good as that used in Amazon’s Kindle.
The new Kobo will offer 1 GB of built-in storage, an SD card slot, built-in dictionary, and support for reading other documents.
For all intents and purposes, the Kobo additions are too little too late. It’s really just a two-horse race now between the Kindle and the Nook.
