Borders has officially started selling its Kobo eReader online and through retail stores, trumping its competitors with a $199 price tag. Over two million EPUB titles are available to download as of today, with a promise to deliver “dedicated Australian content” that customers can access from a range of enabled devices.
There’s a lot of emphasis on the availability of local content on its “eBook store for Australians”, which offers 50,000 paid titles, with most priced between $10 and $15. The rest are free, but Borders did make it clear that they’re not going to consider letting customers share books with others like the way Barnes & Noble’s Nook does.
Free Blackberry, Android and iPad apps are on the way (the iPhone version is already out) so that you can download and read eBooks on whatever platform you want, including Macs. Since the eBooks sync in the cloud, you can switch from one device to another and pick up exactly where you left off.
The Kobe eReader uses an e-ink display, comes preloaded with 100 eBooks, can hold up to 5000 with an SD card and go for up to two weeks without a recharge. Even though you can’t read it in the dark, it’s not a bad deal at all for $199.
[Borders]