Earlier this month I posted about how Kobo increased the price of three of their ereaders by $10 USD each, and now they’ve also raised the price of the new Kobo Clara 2E by $10 as well.
When the Kobo Clara 2E was released in October of 2022 Kobo was selling it for $129.99 USD, and now Kobo is selling it for $139.99.
It’s only been 3 months since the Clara HD was released. What has changed at Kobo in such a short amount of time?
With inflation, increasing the prices of models that were released over a year ago makes some sense, but increasing the price 3 months after a new model is released is a different story entirely. And why didn’t they increase the price at the same time they increased the price of the other models?
Now the Kobo Clara 2E seems kind of overpriced for a 6-inch ereader, especailly compared to the Kindle Paperwhite 5 that sells for the exact same price, and the Kindle has a larger 6.8-inch screen, a better frontlight, and, frankly, a nicer overall design that doesn’t feel like cheap plastic.
The only model that Kobo hasn’t increased the price of is the Kobo Elipsa, and it’s already $60 more expensive than the Kindle Scribe, which has a number of upgrades over it so Kobo can’t really take the price any higher if they want to compete with Amazon.
Increasing the prices of Kobo ereaders by $10 might not sound like a lot, but none of the other ereader companies are suddenly raising the prices of their ebook readers. Kobo is the only one. It makes you wonder if Kobo is having some financial difficulties. The prices on everything seems to be going up lately, but how could Kobo not accurately anticipate the price of the Clara 2E just 3 months after it was released? Something is going on with Kobo, and it isn’t good.
Unfortunately you are right. They will have a real challenge replacing either the Sage or the Ellipsa to compete with the Scribe. The downward price pressure the Scribe creates will force tough decisions from Kobo. On top of the basic price, Amazon’s trade in program snares current Kindle customers(like me).
The Ellipsa has to be dead in the water.
Great customization does no good if you can’t sell units.
I think Kobo needs to streamline its product line. Get rid of the pointless Nia, and move the Clara 2E into the budget position of the line-up. It’s a beautiful little reader (I have one) and it is great, either as a primary reader or a back-up. But it is now way over-priced, and too near in price to the Libra 2. I think they need to simplify and have just three readers – Clara 2E, for those who like the symmetrical rectangular shape, then either a Libra or Sage for the middle sector, who like the bigger page, perhaps with note taking ability? Or maybe just keep note taking for the top model. The top model will have to be the Elipsa 2, with a 300 dpi screen and a pen which does not need a battery. As Amazon have the monopoly on the 300 dpi 10” screen for a year, this would be launched late Sept 2023 at the earliest.
I hope they do something to consolidate their line-up, and that they survive as an ereader company.
I say this as as someone still using a Kindle Voyage.
Don’t you think it’s a bit disingenuous to compare models without actually matching the base storage? Most won’t actually need or use the storage but that’s a different matter. Sales and promotions are also a different matter but Kindles are clearly the better value then.
The Kindle Scribe (32GB) equivalent to the Ellipsa pack does still sell for $10 less albeit without a cover, it also has a higher resolution which is more important – to me, anyway. The Ellipsa is missing the auto sensor and warm front light and Wacom is preferable but it is lighter.
The Paperwhite 5 (16GB + no ads) is $10 or $30 more than the Clara 2E depending on your acceptance of ads.
The PPW5 (32GB) equivalent to the Kobo Libra 2 would be the signature edition which is the same price but does have compelling features going for it like wireless charging – although the tech isn’t there yet for me – dual band wifi, an auto sensor and slightly lighter weight.
The 6” Kindle is $20 or $40 less than the Kobo Clara 2E depending on your acceptance of ads but doesn’t offer a warm front light or water resistance but it is lighter.
As an aside I hope this was done because a premium 6” Kindle is in the works; a Voyage 2 with a warm front light would be great.
Kobo would have a lock on the five inch market. The Kobo Mini, introduced in 2012, is still in demand. People are selling used ones for prices comparable to the original price on eBay. Imagine a Kobo Mini 2.0, with the features of the Clara 2e. I would happily pay $150 for something small and lightweight enough to slip into a T-shirt pocket.
Mind also the fluctuation of the exchange rates between currencies, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have the stock full of all other models (they are paid for to manufacturer) and 2E is still in production and they have to adjust to the situation. I was really glad to grab 2E during holidays period with discount. In Europe Kobo barely if ever giving any discounts that was a huge surprise so I’ve grabbed one. The inflation affected a lot of prices… now it is even scary to window shop. Maybe only to confirm a right decision on some purchases which were made pre-inflation adjustment… Amazon with basic model also had some discounts in Europe for a extremely short period of time 110EUR discounted to 90EUR which was already POST holidays.
Bethyl: “Don’t you think it’s a bit disingenuous to compare models without actually matching the base storage?”
Personally? No, at least on 5- or 6- or 7-inch models, where you’re not likely reading manga or PDFs. Most novels are under a megabyte, while nonfiction with lots of maps and graphs might top fifty. Now if the reader has audio ability, storage comes into play, where long books can hit a gigabyte. But in general, storage space isn’t an issue for just ebooks. {Also a Voyage owner.}
I may have addressed it briefly, but I still mentioned that most people would not benefit from additional storage.
I’d also rather not see Kobo stoop to Amazon’s level and offer discounted e-readers by allowing ads or opting for lower storage capacities; Kobo would likely lose due to the broader library of the Kindle store.
As far as I’m aware, all of the newer Kindle and Kobo devices offer audiobook support. Sanderson has stated that 75% of the preorders for his 7th Mistborn book were audiobooks, so it’s possible that the demand for audiobooks in the US could be higher than for ebooks – at least for popular series or series that have Audible as an option.
Personally, it would make sense to me for people to have more time to listen to an audiobook than they are to have time to sit and read an actual book or ebook.
Taking a look at top rated nonfiction on Amazon I see: B0BJMN7RMV, B09VYRM2BV, B09C65JNPF, B0B9KW7M6N, B00ICN066A, and, B07H453KGH; the listed size is 33632 KB, 127289 KB, 28220 KB, 20003 KB, 34204 KB, and 12237 KB, respectively; I saw outliers of around 224MB as well.
The last I checked, approximately 40% of those who like to read prefer nonfiction, so I can’t help but feel that it’s significant enough not to be dismissed so easily.
Those who read manga and that may opt not to do so on a smaller e-reader may still read “light novels,” – Japanese translated ebooks with some high-resolution images. These take up more storage relative to most ebooks, comparable to nonfiction.
See B01CO4B3BO, B09JS4XNC7, B076H132D2, B01N0EPMN4, B0723G97LX, and B07Q32HSFN; the listed size is 15709 KB, 28653 KB, 35099 KB, 18405 KB,18312 KB, and 23691 KB for the first volume in each series, with each ongoing series having 15, 5, 5, 15, 15, and 24 books, respectively; I also saw outliers like B093T6S13T with a size of 79458 KB.
Rimon Kade: “No, at least on 5- or 6- or 7-inch models, where you’re not likely reading manga or PDFs.”
Since it’s okay to be dismissive of storage comparisons with smaller e-readers – and since Kindle doesn’t have a comparable 8″ e-reader – how about with the Scribe and the Ellipsa? You can read manga and PDFs on both of these devices, so storage is an issue that should be commented on.
For either of us, the additional storage may not be necessary, but the post author has a wider reach, and failure to address these things is not a good look. While I agree with Nathan that the price increase is odd, I can’t entirely agree with their comparisons relative to pricing.
I mentioned having a Kindle Voyage partly due to the storage (4GB) but primarily to prevent others from seeing my comment as pro-Kobo.