Kobo sells e-readers directly and has a large number of distribution partners. For the past four months the Kobo Aura Edition 2 has been labeled as out of stock on the main Kobo website for both Canada and the United States. It looks like this e-reader is officially discontinued, because it been completely removed from the Kobo website and most of their retail partners, such as Chapters Indigo. Walmart is continuing to sell the Kobo Aura Walmart Edition, at a reduced price of $69.
Kobo has basically discontinued all of their legacy e-readers and is adopting a 3 SKU strategy. They have the entry level Kobo Clara HD with a 212 PPI screen, the recently released Kobo Libra H2O that is waterproof and 7 inch Carta screen and it is also waterproof. They also have their premium Kobo Foroma, which has an 8 inch screen and normally costs around $299 to $399.
The 3 SKU strategy is the same system that Amazon employs with the Kindle. They have the entry level Kindle Basic, Kindle Paperwhite and the Oasis. It looks like Kobo is basically doing the same thing, and I believe this is best, it is easier to sell a base, mid-range and premium model, then to have 4 or 5 different devices in your portfolio.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
