Kobo has ended their partnership with Walmart

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JBaby

Yes!!! Companies just give up way too soon. And then they don’t even do all things necessary to give the product a real shot!

t.

5 inventory turns per year or you are outta here.
Quick money fads seems to be where it is at. Corporate, rather than Local control of stocked items (there are 10 items in a system, they stock only the most frequently used 5. Or the brand you liked and wanted more to match, is no longer carried AT ALL)

Funny, I was just looking at the history of a store my Grandpa founded in a small town over 100 years ago. It is still open. AND it is the only one that has been there that long in the same family (3 generations).

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JBaby

Yes!!! Companies just give up way too soon. And then they don’t even do all things necessary to give the product a real shot!

I'm going through that with Google Podcasts right now. They want users to move to YouTube Music instead. But why not wait until all (or at least most) features are in the replacement app before dumping the existing one?

They never came to my store either. I don’t think they came to any store in my area and I was shocked by that because one of the bigger stores in my area is in a college town. I was highly disappointed. I’m almost certain I’d have bought one if they had made them available. This what I meant when I said companies don’t do all the necessary things to give a product a fair shot.

I can say I've never seen a Kobo in a Walmart and I live in a swanky upscale suburb where they would likely do well.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by theducks

5 inventory turns per year or you are outta here.
Quick money fads seems to be where it is at.

Which is never going to make you a competitor to Amazon.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I can say I've never seen a Kobo in a Walmart and I live in a swanky upscale suburb where they would likely do well.

I feel like that was almost antithetical to the point of "Walmart ebooks", though? They were going to bring ebooks to the working class! Free of the tyranny of those coastal elites from Amazon!

Nevermind that Kobo was the technically superior device. The whole point was to hide the Kobo branding, anyway.

[theducks]

Hide Branding???
Mine say KOBO on the device. They did change the splash screen (shows less than 30 seconds on power up)

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by theducks

Hide Branding???
Mine say KOBO on the device. They did change the splash screen (shows less than 30 seconds on power up)

Notice the branding whenever Wal-Mart referred to them:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Walmart-e...2?from=/search

They're not Kobo gift cards, they're "Walmart eBook (by Rakuten Kobo)" eGift cards. In addition to the physical devices, I think they were really pushing the app as something you could read on whatever smart device (Android/iOS) that you already had, not just on the physical e-readers.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I can say I've never seen a Kobo in a Walmart and I live in a swanky upscale suburb where they would likely do well.

I saw them in two Walmart stores. One in North Richland Hills, TX and one in Nampa, ID. (I took pictures of the Kobos in North Richland Hills, BadeReader made use of them.) In Nampa they sold out the last of their Aura (second editions) for $15 each when they were clearing them out. Cases went for $5 each. That's the last I've seen of Kobos in B&M stores. Best Buy used to sell them in store. (They also used to have Nooks.) Now it's just Kindle, but I think they sell space to Amazon these days.

[John F]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

...
I live in a swanky upscale suburb
...

Well, la-de-da.

I haven't seen a Kobo ereader in the couple of Walmarts around by me. They are not swanky.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by JBaby

Yes!!! Companies just give up way too soon. And then they don’t even do all things necessary to give the product a real shot!



They never came to my store either. I don’t think they came to any store in my area and I was shocked by that because one of the bigger stores in my area is in a college town. I was highly disappointed. I’m almost certain I’d have bought one if they had made them available. This what I meant when I said companies don’t do all the necessary things to give a product a fair shot.

Welcome to corporate America. It's all about short term consistent upward growth chasing an ever higher stock price. If that isn't met within their limited amount of time, whatever is not performing promptly gets dumped! That includes employees as well!

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

I feel like that was almost antithetical to the point of "Walmart ebooks", though? They were going to bring ebooks to the working class! Free of the tyranny of those coastal elites from Amazon!

I never saw them in the yucky Walmarts either.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by John F

Well, la-de-da.

I haven't seen a Kobo ereader in the couple of Walmarts around by me. They are not swanky.

Point is, it's an area where a soccer mom wouldn't mind plunking down $150 on a device she has never heard of and knows nothing about. Seems like it would be a good place to introduce Kobos.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

At least your Walmart had Kobos on display. Ours never did.

Mine either. I really think it was a limited rollout and that they didn't put my effort. We have a large electronics section but we never got Kobos here.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

One thing I wish Google and other companies would learn from Apple is not to quit so quickly on something. I do think Kobo could have caught on it the had set up small displays in the book section rather than with the tablets and laptops (and if they did it in more stores).



I remember Vudu. I thought it was someone to do with Hulu.

Vudu may still be around? I remember my father-in-law telling me something about they buy a Blu Ray they get some code and it adds it to their Vudu account. That was a year or two ago, I think. Looks like it's been renamed Fandango at Home.

Vudu is still big and I use it - it changes ownership randomly.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

One thing I wish Google and other companies would learn from Apple is not to quit so quickly on something. .

Apple?
They bring out products when others have proved there is a market.
MP3 player
Phone
Tablet
Watch

[ChrisHistorian76]

IMO it's rather "nteresting" that only Good e-Reader has claimed the Rakuten partnership with Walmatrt has ended. Their post claims that they've contacted Rakuten Kobo for comment and would update the post. Nine days later, they haven't done so.

https://goodereader.com/blog/electro...tnership-ended