I am a seriously big fan of electronic book readers.
While some people have insisted to me that they’re killing bookshops, books, and life as we know it - I personally think that eReaders are encouraging reading and the purchasing of books.
However, I don’t really understand the need for WH Smith to start selling the Kobo eReaders when the eReader market is already becoming quite crowed.The Kindle and the pre-order sales of the Kindle Fire are doing amazingly well. Bookseller Waterstones already sells the Cybook Opus eReader, and the Sony PRS650. Or, you can also choose eReaders from the likes of Mebook, Elonex, Archos, Sovos, View Quest, and Cybook, just to name a few.
I’m all for there being diversity in a market as it creates competition and therefore lower prices, but for some reason WH Smith partnering with Kobo doesn’t really make sense to me. Sure, they announced that their profits have increased by 4%, while sales fell by 5%. But is WH Smith really the place where people are suddenly going to go, “Ah yes. An eReader. I’ve heard of those. I think I’ll buy one by a brand I’ve never really heard of!”The Kindle is well on it’s way to becoming the name synonymous with eReader, like Kleenex is with tissue and Hoover is with vacuum cleaners.
Can Kobo win over eReader virgins? And is WH Smith's customer base really the right people to attempt it with?