Bookseller Borders Books has been lagging behind Barnes & Noble for some time, but now is making an effort to catch up. The company has announced plans to carry up to 10 e-book readers in its stores by the end of this year.
As part of this effort, Borders announced a deal with Aluratek to sell its $120 Libre e-book reader, along with taking pre-orders for Kobo’s $149 e-reader, due in stores this month, and selling Sony’s e-book reader. The Libre has a 5-inch LCD black-and-white display and can play digital music and inexplicably has a built-in photo viewer. It claims up to 24 hours of battery life.
The Libre will come with a link to the Borders eBook store powered by Kobo, a recent spin off from Canadian Indigo Books & Music. The e-book readers will be sold at Border’s bookshops in a section that will be called “Area-e.”
Borders ultimately plans a good/better/best plan, offering readers starting at $100 and up to$250 and even $500, according to the firm’s interim president and CEO Mike Edwards.