Pick n Pay shakes up e-reader market with R995 offer

QuintonB

QuintonB

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Pick n Pay could spark e-riot

South Africa’s e-reader market received a shake-up this month when Pick n Pay announced that it was bringing the Kobo Touch e-reader to SA for R995
 
In fact, influential *technology magazine Wired rated the Kobo Touch as the number one e-reader in the market in 2011.
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I don't care about 2011, its nearly 2013 and how do they now compare against the latest Kindles? Poor M&G journalism and its obvious the journalist has never owned an e-reader. Its less to do about the reader but more about the eco-system and this is where Amazon rules the market.
 
seems to me pick n pay is going to make a lot of people lose money by spending it on something that may hold little value in the future when compared with amazon. Unfortunately the general public is not knowledgeable enough to know the difference.

Shame on you pick n pay
 
This is a good deal for people who want a book only replacement.
At 995 I am tempted to get one just for the purpose of reading outside in sunlight.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
I don't care about 2011, its nearly 2013 and how do they now compare against the latest Kindles? Poor M&G journalism and its obvious the journalist has never owned an e-reader. Its less to do about the reader but more about the eco-system and this is where Amazon rules the market.
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seems to me pick n pay is going to make a lot of people lose money by spending it on something that may hold little value in the future when compared with amazon. Unfortunately the general public is not knowledgeable enough to know the difference.

Shame on you pick n pay
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I don't see how you people act like Pick n Pay are screwing the public. For 995 get get a million free books that you can read in the sunlight with the battery life lasting a month. Sounds ideal for people in rural areas wanting to read but can't afford tablets or constant electrical charging or people who want to read outside in the sun.

E-Ink readers are not meant to replace your Android, iPad or Kindle Fire. You can get the Kobo software for Android and iPad and sync books between the e-ink device and those devices so can't see how you say it holds little value in the future as books downloaded are not limited to the Kobo device.
 
Amazon don't rule the South African market, they won't ship the Kindle Paperwhite here. Kobo is at least letting us buy the thing.
 
What do you guys expect with Incredible Connection inflating the prices Kindle prices like they do.

Lets hope this is successful enough to get amazon to lift a eyebrow and start a proper distribution network in SA.

Edit: allso just a quick note I went to there website and they actually have more local books than amazon ;)
 
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Some stupid comments here. The Kobo Touch offered is a great product. There are very little changes from year to year. My three year old Kindle still does the job as well as the one I got 6 months ago. A sub R1000 price is awesome. Thanks P'nP. Someone is standing up against the exploitation that started when "someone" manged to get the local distribution rights to the Kindle. No pain to get an e-book in any format and Kobo handles the most out of the box. Use Calibre and you're sorted. I have a huge paid for collection of Kindle books that I now convert after Amazon showed that they are willing and able to lock accounts preventing customers to access books PAID FOR when Amazon deems a customers actions "against their 1000 page book of rules". Kobo is a good way to go. Easy to get any ebook to work on it.
 
Why is it that so many articles only cover part of the whole? Sub R100 e-readers is available since last year already. Kalahari sells the Gobii for R899 including R160 voucher towards e-books.
Gobii can read e-books, show photo's, play you video's all in colour. you can also listen to music while reading your book on it. Add on memory is in the form of a micoSD up to 16GB so it effectively gives you a 7" multimedia device at sub R1000 pricing. Although not having a touch screen the full package had me sold. With software like Calibre it opens up any e-book to be read on any e-reader.
 
Gobii cant be compared to other ebook readers, it uses a LCD screen and thats rubbish for prolonged book reading,so its fairly useless vs E-Ink.
 
FaSMaN said:
What do you guys expect with Incredible Connection inflating the prices Kindle prices like they do.
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The prices IC charge for the Kindle range are really sickening. At one time, there was about a R1000 difference in Rand value between the Amazon and IC price for the same model Kindle, and don't tell me it's due to import costs, duties and VAT.

Thankfully they are not the only ones who import the Kindle, especially the Paperwhite ;)

As for the Kobo Touch... it looks like a very good product. It has all the same benefits as the Kindle Touch (e-ink, long battery life). The only thing missing is the Amazon ecosystem, but there's always Calibre to get your paid-for content onto your Kobo.
 
Vl@d said:
Why is it that so many articles only cover part of the whole? Sub R100 e-readers is available since last year already. Kalahari sells the Gobii for R899 including R160 voucher towards e-books.
Gobii can read e-books, show photo's, play you video's all in colour. you can also listen to music while reading your book on it. Add on memory is in the form of a micoSD up to 16GB so it effectively gives you a 7" multimedia device at sub R1000 pricing. Although not having a touch screen the full package had me sold. With software like Calibre it opens up any e-book to be read on any e-reader.
Click to expand...

It does not use e-ink, the selling point of the Kindle. You don't buy a Kindle to surf the net or watch movies you buy it for a single purpose and that is to read books. If you owned an e-reader in the class of the Kindle you would not have made such a lame post.
 
skimread said:
I don't see how you people act like Pick n Pay are screwing the public. For 995 get get a million free books that you can read in the sunlight with the battery life lasting a month. Sounds ideal for people in rural areas wanting to read but can't afford tablets or constant electrical charging or people who want to read outside in the sun.

E-Ink readers are not meant to replace your Android, iPad or Kindle Fire. You can get the Kobo software for Android and iPad and sync books between the e-ink device and those devices so can't see how you say it holds little value in the future as books downloaded are not limited to the Kobo device.
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Obviously you did not think before you quoted my post. Journalist was raving about a 2011 statement, things change rapidly fast in this industry. Modern Kindles are far superior and do cost more - but are worth it. BTW, I got my wifes Kindle for R1000 from a local supplier last year. There is too much focus on a few hundred rand discount between the readers and no real comparison of the eco-systems and this is where the real value lies.

Also the Kindle is also available for tablet devices.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Obviously you did not think before you quoted my post. Journalist was raving about a 2011 statement, things change rapidly fast in this industry. Modern Kindles are far superior and do cost more - but are worth it. BTW, I got my wifes Kindle for R1000 from a local supplier last year. There is too much focus on a few hundred rand discount between the readers and no real comparison of the eco-systems and this is where the real value lies.

Also the Kindle is also available for tablet devices.
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I actually prefer to stay away from the Kindle eco-system. Sure for 90% of the people the Kindle would be the easiest to use with the automatic delivery to the device, but using Wifi on the Kobo (and other readers like the Sony T1) ebooks from any store that sells ePubs can be downloaded directly - essentially the same functionality as the Kindle.
 
I also prefer to stay away from the Kindle eco-system.I want the freedom to purchase my books from any source.
Just a pity P'nP didn't bring out the Kobo Glo. Only cost a couple of rands more but worth it.
 
I had a look at this thing the other day (by accident) and I think it's crap. That might sound like an useless comment and to be honest i don't use e-readers although I've seen a few in action. I played around with one of the models and I must say that reading the text on the screen was nice and clear, I even though it was a demo unit with printed text stick on the screen but the page transitions were BAD, it almost seemed like the thing was faulty. It was so bad that i actually lifted the protective plastic on the screen to see if i was not interfering with the page changing but it was still the same. The only way I can explain the page changing is to say that the text kind of flickered out and the new text sort of like flickered in, there was no smooth transition, to me it was really off putting.
 
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JimboBob said:
I had a look at this thing the other day (by accident) and I think it's crap. That might sound like an useless comment and to be honest i don't use e-readers although I've seen a few in action. I played around with one of the models and I must say that reading the text on the screen was nice and clear, I even though it was a demo unit with printed text stick on the screen but the page transitions were BAD, it almost seemed like the thing was faulty. It was so bad that i actually lifted the protective plastic on the screen to see if i was not interfering with the page changing but it was still the same. The only way I can explain the page changing is to say that the text kind of flickered out and the new text sort of like flickered in, there was no smooth transition, to me it was really off putting.
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I believe they all do that, it's the e-ink.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Obviously you did not think before you quoted my post. Journalist was raving about a 2011 statement, things change rapidly fast in this industry. Modern Kindles are far superior and do cost more - but are worth it. BTW, I got my wifes Kindle for R1000 from a local supplier last year. There is too much focus on a few hundred rand discount between the readers and no real comparison of the eco-systems and this is where the real value lies.
Click to expand...
If you got your comparable Kindle with wifi locally for R1000 then good for you. Post the link so people can have a choice for those who rather want the Kindle store.

I don't think you can call e-ink readers an eco system. Sure kobo does not have that big a store but it has a million free books, shows books in Rand, syncs with Android and iOs apps and allow transfer of pdf and epub books to and from your PC. As a book replacement is a good device. If you want to take up the journalism issue with the Mail And Guardian then do so. Pick n Pay taking a cut of the prices for ebook sold could mean books will be more expensive so if there has to be an issue I would rather raise that.

You can disagree with me but I feel as a book replacement ONLY this device is a good deal.
 
JimboBob said:
The only way I can explain the page changing is to say that the text kind of flickered out and the new text sort of like flickered in, there was no smooth transition, to me it was really off putting.
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hehe they all do that its the extremely low refresh rate of E-INK
Its not a Nexus 7 :D
 
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