Oh gosh, this is awkward. Please no one tell Kobo that their first actually interesting product – an e-ink ebook reader with a touchscreen – is about to get blasted out of the water by a new Nook that does the same thing.
That’s the rumour over at CNET, whose tipster says that the next Nook – being announced about 90 minutes from now, we’ll be there! – will be a “squat, black, touchscreen e-ink reader” called The Simple Touch Reader. The expected cost is $US140.
Not much else is known or guessed, although presumably the Simple Touch Reader will function very similarly to that Kobo eReader touch from yesterday. First-generation Nooks will reportedly get a price drop to $US119 and $US169 for the Wi-Fi and 3G + Wi-Fi versions, respectively. [CNET]