Over the last few weeks, the battle front for eReaders vs tablets has gotten very interesting indeed. The news that Amazon may have a new Kindle in the works, promised that 2011 could be an interesting year for eReaders.
Kobo Touch eReader
This was followed by Borders’ announcement of the new Kobo Touch eReader. An eReader with a touch sensitive E Ink screen? Just as it was looking like the back-lit LCD screen might push E Ink off the map thanks to the iPad primarily, a new twist is added to the mix. Shortly after the Kobo Touch news, Barnes & Noble announced its own new Nook Simple Touch Reader. And at $129 and $139 respectively, both of the new eReaders are competitively priced.
In addition to the infrared touch screens, both new readers tout advanced social media related functionality. It’ll be interesting to see just how usable this is given the slower refresh rate of E Ink displays relative to LCD. The new E Ink Pearl displays are reported to be faster, but will it be fast enough? I can’t wait to get my hands on one for some testing!
Nook Simple Touch Reader
Anyway one looks at it, the Kindle just got some new competition. Amazon is not likely to take this lying down, so I hope we’ll see some news from them soon on the next Kindle. As for the iPad, these new readers are cheap enough that owning one of them plus an iPad is a viable option. Also, as touch screen devices, going from iPad to eReader won’t be as jarring an experience as it is now that we mostly expect tablet or tablet-like devices to have touch displays.
The new eReaders are scheduled to begin shipping next week, so I’ll be planning a trip to Borders and Barnes & Noble for some much anticipated hands on time.