First comes news that Borders will slash the price of the Kobo Reader to $129 and the Aluratek Libre to $99.00.
That puts the USB-cable syncing Kobo at $10 less than the WiFi-only Kindle 3. I don’t think that’s enough of a price difference to help sales at all.
Second comes word that Staples will be stocking all three models of the Kindle in its stores this Fall: WiFi-only, WiFi/3G, and the DX.
Now here’s the interesting part: Borders claims it has “about 650” stores. Meanwhile, Staples claims “1,871 retail stores throughout the United States and Canada.”
In addition, the Kindle is at Target, which claims “nearly 1,750 stores in 49 states.”
Which eBook device is the public most likely to encounter? The Kobo Reader or the Kindle?
In fact, ask people about eBooks and “Kindle” comes to mind before anything else.
Kindle has mindshare — now it will have shelfshare too!
Mike Cane’s xBlog 