Jessica Wohl:
Borders Group Inc said on Friday that it is taking pre-orders for the Kobo eReader, which will arrive in customers’ homes starting on June 17, and plans to launch its eBook store in June.
I think the clear eBook winner is going to be Amazon (10% chance it is Apple). Amazon has really hedged its bet. They allow you to read your eBook just about anywhere with their Kindle suite of products. Whereas B&N and Apple only allow reading on one device (for right now) Amazon is trying a more universal approach, making them a safer bet for consumers.
Should be interesting to see if dedicated eBook readers win out or die off in the next few years. My hunch tells me that dedicated readers will become an even more niche product over the next 6 months.
UPDATE:
It appears Borders is trying the Amazon approach:
The Kobo app (without the Borders connection) is actually already available for the iPhone and the iPad, but neither app has garnered very positive reviews. Our own Erica Sadun found some things to like about the iPad app in her preview last March. via TUAW