My Kobo Reader arrived this weekend.  And wow, it’s a very nice light reader — almost Star Trek:TNG-like. It makes my Sony PRS-505 Reader seem heavy and cumbersome. The contrast reminds me of the difference between Mac and PC. And at only $150, it’s a great entry-level reader for people new to e-reading technology. It’s not the golden $99 price point yet, but getting there.

The Kobo doesn’t have the wireless capability that comes with a Kindle, but then my Sony doesn’t have wireless either. Plug and load is still a great way to get what you want to have on the go. The Kobo interface is simple and easy to use, with the only disappointment that I can’t load ePubs that I’ve purchased from other stores.

Then the “a-ha” moment arrived. The Kobo isn’t really competing with Sony or any of the other readers on the market. Kobo is going after Amazon. The Kindle reader isn’t really the “thing” that Amazon is interested in selling. Amazon wants to be the source for content — much like iTunes is the source for music and video and Apple happens to sell the device you can play them on. Kobo wants to play too.

Kobo has focused its efforts on content delivery over multiple platforms. You can read your Kobo books on your Blackberry or iPhone, on your desktop computer, on other readers (including the Sony), or now on its own portable reader. So the hardware solution doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to be cheap, cheerful, and easy to come by. (Though the Kobo is very cute, with the soft blue rubber navigation button on front and grey quilted back. Plus the 100 pre-loaded free books sure help the open-the-box, get-started ease.)

No, the real money for Kobo will come from selling content that can be used anywhere a consumer wants it. With multiple platforms available for reading what I buy, I’m going to do all my e-book purchasing at Kobo from now on. And that’s just what they want to happen.

P.S. It makes a wonderful Mother’s Day gift.  My 68-year-old mother LOVED it as soon as she touched it. Not sure what she’ll do with her collection of fabric book cover protectors and bookmarks, but she’ll surely find some way to make the Kobo even more homey than it already is.

No question, e-reading recently got a whole lot sexier. Apple’s iPad, the latest e-book reader, is sleek and shiny, and has definitely upped the ante. Not only can you read your favourite book (in colour), you can surf the web, play games, keep up with social networks, display photos, and so much more.

It’s estimated there are some 10 million downloadable book titles available and a dizzying array of readers to enjoy them on. On the first day of its launch, Apple’s iBookstore saw 250,000 downloads alone. Before the iPad, Amazon’s Kindle was the sweetheart of the industry with a whopping 90% of the market share. Sales of the iPad show it’s looking for a takeover, and many wonder if it will sink the Kindle altogether and leave all other readers in its dust.

But if the iPad is being used specifically as a reader, word on the street is that the Kindle, or other single-purpose reader, may be a better option. There’s the matter of eInk, the technology that makes the Kindle screen delightfully easy to read in any light. Take an iPad to the beach on a sunny day and good luck reading the screen. Then there’s the battery. The Kindle has enough juice for up to two weeks of reading. The iPad? Ten hours.

If the iPad hype and sales have shown us anything, it’s that e-books are teetering on the edge of becoming mainstream, and consumers want digital content and are willing to shell out for it. From that perspective, the iPad could become the tipping point for the e-book market, and publishers and authors need to focus on the implications and opportunities that will bring.

There’s a new e-book reader on the market … and it will wrap itself around your little finger. Literally.

The new Readius is made with a screen that folds up into a tidy package for carrying and is flexible enough to wrap around your finger.

The resolution and screen quality are comparable to the Amazon Kindle since both devices use E Ink technology. The Readius display is a little smaller than the Kindle — 5″ diagonal versus the Kindle’s 6″ — but the Kindle doesn’t fold up to the size of a cell phone. The Readius also lets you download email, which the Kindle doesn’t do.

Many e-book readers have launched and failed. Can the Readius put a dent in the growing Kindle market? While the Readius has a “cool” factor with the bendy screen, the Kindle has a big headstart and the Amazon infrastructure behind it.

The big downside of the Kindle and the new Readius is that they are essentially single-purpose devices. They read e-books. OK, they can both read newspapers too.

But where is the flexible screen that can do it all and won’t tie us down to proprietary file formats?

Years ago I read a prediction that said one day we would all carry a single, rollable screen that served as newspaper, book, web browser, e-mail reader and computer desktop. That’s the device I’d like to see.

So to the Readius, I say, “Good start.” Let’s see what you do next.

A new article in Publisher’s Weekly points out yet another potential casualty of the high price of gas: author readings. Bookstore owners are concerned that crowds won’t come out to hear authors speak if the price of gas goes much higher.

Already the publishing industry has been feeling pinches over gasoline shortages. Most notably, the price of paper has shot up this year, and the cost to ship books from printer to warehouse to customer is climbing also.

Yet a solution does exist, and smart authors are using it already: technology. A whole universe of media — from podcasts and viral video to live chats, blogs and Twitter — can be used to promote books and interact with readers far and wide. It’s low-cost and easy on the environment, too.

For marketing, virtual seems like a no-brainer. But how about on the production side?

The New York Times reports that among publishers at Book Expo America a couple of weeks ago, the feeling about e-books was “unease.” Seth Godin points out that publishers are missing the forest for the trees:

“The fastest-growing, lowest cost segment of the business, the one that offers the most promise, the best possible outcome and has the best results… is causing unease!”

Sales of electronic books are rising, thanks in part to the emerging popularity of Amazon’s Kindle reader. After just 8 months on the market, Kindle sales account for 6% of Amazon’s volume in books where electronic and print versions are both available.

So are we seeing the final days of print books? Not quite yet.

Many people still say they far prefer reading a print book over an e-book. Even among kids under 17 — the one group who you think would embrace a digital book — nearly two-thirds still prefer print versions.

So what’s a publisher to do? Know your market and what they want. Be open to changing tactics where it makes sense and can save you money. And keep your eye on the oil. Maybe the decline in fossil fuels will be the tipping point that pushes reading into the digital realm.