Here’s something that’s a bit unexpected.
Kobo is selling the original Kobo Aura One from their website once again.
It’s selling for the same $229 price it used to go for back when it was first released in 2016.
It’s odd to see the Kobo Aura One back in stock again because Kobo and their retail partners stopped selling it over a year ago now.
Kobo has been selling the Limited Edition version with 32GB of storage space for $279 up until a few weeks ago, but it was only available from their US website.
Now that model is gone and the original 8GB model is back, and it’s available from Kobo’s other regional websites as well, including their Canada and UK websites.
Lots of people really liked the Kobo Aura One, myself included, and some were sad to see it go without a replacement. Instead Kobo released the Kobo Forma with a completely new design in 2018 and slowly discontinued the Kobo Aura One after that.
They must’ve found some remaining stock of the Aura One somewhere and are looking to unload them. Too bad the price is still the same as it’s always been. I used to joke that Kobo never once put it on sale, and that’s still true to this day.
$250 Canadian makes for a good deal… but they won’t let it be ordered for a US address… unlike Indigo used to let you do…
At $189 I may be tempted, maybe. But not at $229. Might as well drop the extra $20 and get the Forma.
I’m having flashbacks to the Kobo Mini debacle. They falsely advertised re-issuing the Mini but they sold really old stock instead. Want something with bad battery life?
I’m curious how it came to light that they were selling old stock. I recently purchased a Kobo Aura One after first enquiring with Kobo what the reason was for the rerelease, as I wanted to ensure it wasn’t old stock. They assured me it was not old stock and that they brought it back due to customer demand. I am now sceptical, as the device came with software from 2017, which I needed to update immediately. Is it unusual for a brand new device to be installed with software from 2017? Again, I contacted Kobo with my concern and asked if there is a way to check the manufacture date, to which they responded, “I’m afraid that we don’t have a procedure we can follow to share this information with you. We don’t have the information available.” Does this seem reasonable? Any advice on how I can further this investigation? Thanks
Ah…I’m so glad I bought a used one for only $140.00 almost a year ago. It’s the perfect sized e-reader. I used to have the Oasis 2 but sold it after I was satisfied with the size of the Aura One. Still have my Paperwhite 3 and 4 along with my a Kindle Keyboard 3rd gen that I like so well too.
I loved the Kobo Glo.