With the Kobo Forma getting released last fall, the writing was on the wall, and now it looks like the Kobo Aura One’s run is officially coming to an end two and a half years after it was first released.
Kobo has a weird way of discontinuing their ebook readers—they remove the product page from their website and make it seem like it never existed.
They still have a support page for the Kobo Aura One, but the old product link just leads to a 404 Not Found page now.
In the US they still have the Limited Edition Kobo Aura One for sale at $279, the same price as the 8GB Kobo Forma, but the regular Aura One has been removed from Kobo’s online store.
The same goes for Kobo’s retailers, like Indigo in Canada, but Walmart still has the Aura One for sale in the US for the time being so it’s not completely gone just yet.
The Kobo Aura One was the first ebook reader to come with a 7.8-inch 300 ppi E Ink screen, and it was also the first ebook reader to have a frontlight with adjustable color temperature.
I once considered it my favorite ebook reader, and it’s still a nice device by today’s standards.
One thing that’s still puzzling about Kobo’s sales strategy is they never once put the Kobo Aura One on sale. Not one single time in two and a half years. They put their other models on sale occasionally but never the Aura One.
Too bad, I prefer the Aura One to the Forma and was hoping that Kobo would release an updated version of the Aura One
Hey Nathan! What about the contrast compared to the Voyage? Is there any flicker in this model as it is in Forma? Thank you!
The Forma is the only one I’ve ever come across with PWM flicker, and the only other ebook readers with contrast similar to the Kindle Voyage are those with infrared touchscreens.
I love my One, and do not like the form factor of the Forma. I guess that I will be looking fo another brand when it comes time to replace my reader. The Onyx Mars or Muse maybe.
I was just chatting with a Kobo support person and she said the Aura One isn’t being discontinued, that they’re probably just out of stock at the moment.
She said the Aura One wasn’t affected by the recent round of new updates made by Kobo.
They wouldn’t go through the trouble of removing the Kobo Aura One page from the Kobo website if it was simply out of stock, which it had been for several weeks before they removed it. Customer support rarely knows what they’re talking about in this day and age. If it isn’t on the script they aren’t much help.
Hey Nathan, my beloved Aura one just broke and I’m in the market for a new eReader. What’s your current favourite eReader?
I don’t have a favorite at the moment. I’m always switching from one to another. They all have some pluses and minuses and one doesn’t stand out above the rest. The one I’ve been using most lately is the Sony PRS-350 from 10 years ago because it’s small and has page buttons and easily fits in a pocket.