The e-reader news that can bring cheers to e-book lovers is the recent announcement by Borders that they would launch 10 new models of e-readers towards the end of this year, which they hope will lead to a positive affect on their image and bring its status up a notch. So to the Books, Music and Cafe mentioned above, you can add E-Reader as well. Its not that the electronic readers are anything new to them. They did stock the Sony e-readers for a few years in a row. The bookseller has a new offer, presenting the Aluratek Libre e-Book Reader Pro at a price as low as $119. In a press release, the bookseller stated that this is “significantly lower in cost than many e-readers now available.” Border has developed a tactic which covers the various price ends, by beginning with a low rate of $100. Also, their decision to sell the Libre is in addition to the Kobo which they had unveiled just last month. Also, the price at which the Libre is made available is $30 less than the Kobo e-reader.
The version of the Libre e-Book Reader Pro that would be available at the Borders will be black and comes with a 5 inch monochrome reflective light black and white display that’s as good as a real paper while being easy on the eyes as well. The Libre is quite compact at just 6 x 4 x 0.5 inches and with a weight of only 7.6 ounces. A single full charge of the battery will be enough to support 24 hours of continuous usage of the e-reader. These apart, the Libre has an internal memory of 256MB of internal memory though it can be pushed up to 32GB by way of SD cards. The Libre comes with 100 classics pre-installed on it and has the auto-off and page advance features built in it. The Libre though won’t be WiFi ready, which means it won’t be able to download books on its own and has to be done via a PC.
Libre is available not only at Kmart, but Kohl has made it accessible at half of its stores as a test of the market forces. Even though the Libre does not have an E-Ink display, it makes use of the LCD screen which also lets the battery life survive for a longer time period. However, the Libre e-reader can’t be held in the same line as the Kindle or the Nook as to many, both of these e-readers are significantly better then the Libre.
While most of the big retailers are still trying to figure out what marketing strategies to apply whilst selling the e-readers, Borders seems to have a gameplan already in place and they wish to be seen as an integrated e-book solution. Also, all of the e-readers that Borders intends to have in their inventory will be there on display at the “Area-e” section of the store and will also be provided access to the yet to be launched Borders e-book store. The idea is simple, lure in consumers with the cheap priced e-readers and get them hooked up to their book ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Borders has also reported that this month it will make available the WiFi enhanced Alex eReader by Spring Design which will cost $399, and on the 17th of June, it will stock up with the Bluetooth enabled Kobo at a price of $150. The Aluratek Libre will also be part of the stock.
Be here for more e-reader news.
Also, there’s good news for those who were waiting for the June issue of the Good E-Reader Magazine. Its already out and is currently available!
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
