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Digital News Report – There is another competitor that has arrived into the digital ebook marketplace. This time it is Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) who is a traditional book retailer that have launched their eBook store at borders.com. They are using several eBook readers including the Kobo eReader and Aluratek Libre eReader and also have Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, BlackBerry and Android Apps that are also available for reading the digital books. They also have free software to run on a desktop PC or Mac computers.
The ebook readers are priced under $150. The Kobo eReader retails for $149 and comes with 100 free titles. For a limited time Borders is offering a $20 gift card and double Borders Bucks. The Libre eBook Reader Pro also comes with 100 free books and retails for $119 but won’t be available until July 20th. The Kobe eReader is available at their retail stores as well as at borders.com and the Libre eBook Reader Pro is available to pre-order at borders.com. Borders are also selling two Sony eBook readers as well; the Sony Touch selling for $169, and Sony Pocket retailing for $149.
The opening of Border’s ebook store started off with over 1.5 million book titles with thousands of books that are free of charge. They are anticipating having a 17 percent market share of the digital ebook sales by July of 2011.
Borders is also offering a Borders Rewards(R) loyalty program with their digital ebook sales. If the participating consumer buys their eReader they will earn double Borders Bucks. The rewards program will also have extra benefits such as special gift cards, free shipping on some purchases and exclusive promotions on popular digital ebook series. The Borders rewards program started in 2006 and have over 38 million members that are participating in it.
Like Amazon and Barnes and Nobles, Borders has released support for several different devices including mobile phones. Border has released the Apple iPhone and iPad applications recently, but now have made available the Blackberry and Android Apps for these mobile phones. The apps will allow for the cellphones to search for a book and buy it if they want. The can then download the eBooks for offline reading.
By: Victoria Brown