Quite recently, Good e-Reader broke the news that Rakuten Kobo had a mid-cycle refresh of their Kobo Clara BW e-reader. Sometime in April, they increased the battery life from 1500 mAh to 2,000 mAh. This is a slight increase that will essentially give users an additional week of reading time without needing to recharge. One of the most interesting aspects of this refresh is who was responsible for it. It has come to light that Kobo has switched its manufacturing partner on this device to a company called Top Victory Electronics.
Kobo has been producing e-readers since 2009 and has always partnered with a company based in Taiwan called Netronix. They are considered to be one of the top OEMs in the country. They source all the e-paper and components, and then assemble the e-readers to specification and ship them out to Kobo. Netronix is also the OEM of choice for the Barnes & Noble NOOK.
However, Top Victory Electronics is a relatively new original equipment manufacturer (OEM). I have not heard about them before, but they have been making e-readers and e-paper products since the early 2000s. They are also based in Taiwan, so most of the logistics is still in place, in terms of shipping partners and distribution. Top Victory filed an FCC application, which is the updated Kobo Clara BW with a larger capacity battery.
It will be interesting to see if Netronix will continue as Kobo’s OEM partner or if they will switch to Top Victory Electronics on a full-time basis. Kobo is experiencing stock issues with the Kobo Clara Colour and Kobo Sage in the United States. They won’t have any stock replenishment until sometime this summer.
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.