‘Bookseller Borders laid down an Australian challenge to e-book giants Amazon and Apple yesterday by launching a cut-price e-book reader and a local online bookstore with more than two million titles.

Borders, owned by REDGroup Retail, launched the Kobo eReader yesterday for $199, undercutting Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader by $103.

The company also introduced a Borders iPhone app for reading digital books, and promised to deliver other apps for Blackberry and Android smartphones, as well as its potential rival, the Apple iPad that is due in stores next Friday….

Borders’ online store features more than two million digital books for download, though the REDGroup Retail group managing director Dave Fenlon admitted that only 50,000 were available for sale, while the rest were free books, many out of copyright.

New-release books typically cost between $10 and $15 to download.

More than 100 publishers have signed up to be part of the Borders online bookstore, and Australian children’s author Garth Nix said the companies should embrace the opportunity to weed out copyright theft and sell more titles….

A recent worldwide survey of 13,000 consumers by the Boston Consulting Group showed 28 per cent of respondents expect to buy an e-book reader in the next year.’

Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson – National Technology Writer www.couriermail.com.au