News & Trends: eBooks … By the Numbers

Read Me, TouchMe: New Touch Editions Hit Market

Now Selling: The Kobo Touch

Kobo Inc. (majority held by Indigo, Canada's 
largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer) 
recently launched the Kobo eReader Touch Edition, according to Technology Marketing Corp.'s website, TMCNet.com. The Kobo Touch was released for $139 CDN and offered in Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores throughout Canada, with shipment available to the United States. It also was 
released in select Borders stores and on Borders.com for $130 USD, according to Borders.com.

The new Kobo features a 6-inch glare-free screen, which uses a Real Touch interface to allow navigation and page-turning with only a touch; and higher contrast and sharper images than its previous version, according to the TMCNet.com article. The Kobo Store includes more than 2.3 million books, newspapers and magazine titles. According to TMCNet.com, the Kobo currently serves 3.6 million readers from100-plus countries. More than one book is downloaded per second during peak hours.

Nook Outranks Kindle With Simple Touch

Barnes & Noble's new Nook Simple Touch Reader has set the Nook ahead of the Kindle for the first time since their releases, according to an article by Doug Gross on CNN.com. Consumer Reports, Gross reported, rated the Nook Simple Touch one point higher than the latest Kindle and several points higher than other Kindle models.

Consumer Reports gave the Nook and Kindle the same score on battery life, but several features gave the new Nook the advantage. The new Nook "strips away bells and whistles from the first model, including a second navigation screen, an MP3 player and web browser," wrote Gross. The Nook Simple Touch also features a program which allows users to check out e-books from libraries free of charge. The Consumer Reports review forecasted Amazon's plans for a library program for the Kindle, as well as firmware updates to improve the device, may help the Kindle gain a leading edge in the near future.