Thursday, February 17, 2011

Where now for the iOS Borders eBook reader?

Borders is in bankruptcy. Its future is quite uncertain.

Of course the books we bought there are still good. The paper ones that is ...

Borders launches eBook reader for iPhone

... Borders has entered the battle for dominance of the iPhone eBook market. Well sort of. Today Borders launched an official eBook app for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. But it’s basically just a rebranded version of the Kobo app which has been available since last week.

Kobo and Borders are partners in the eBook space, with Kobo powering the Borders eBook store. Kobo also sells a physical eBook reader with an E Ink display that competes with the Amazon Kindle, and which has access to the Borders eBook store...

I've read elsewhere that Kobo is still in business, though I suspect Borders was their primary partner. This is probably not a good time to buy a Kobo reader.

The average lifespan of a Fortune 500 company is 40-50 years. I think we can assume that the lifespan of file formats in general, and Digital Rights Management standards is significantly less than that. Make your purchases accordingly.

No comments: