I very consciously did not buy a Kindle when choosing an Ereader about a year ago. The Kobo H2O is incredible and has served me very well. The format support is wonderful, and the stock OS does more than I need (though there is a whole community of custom OSes that also look cool). Combined with Calibre, I don't even see what the Kindle value prop is.

It's trading customisation/flexibility for ease of use, at a (potentially) higher cost.

The older kindles with 2G/3G "Whispersync" functionality had another major drawcard of working just about anywhere, even if you didn't have wifi coverage or a phone with data services. I have in the past used this to load several more books while in an airport in a foreign country between flights.

Many people if you hand them a Kindle can easily navigate the store and buy a book.

Without that built-in store, then they're now going to have a bunch more hurdles: they need a computer, internet access (or an offline store), the skill and ability to run and use Calibre, the knowledge of where to get eBooks from, how to get them in the right format (or convert them), etc.

The Kobo Store is really easy to use - plus Overdrive (library ebook software) is natively integrated into Kobo as well.

It’s basically equivalent to Amazon and when you purchase from Kobo (or check out from local library) it shows up automatically when you sync via wifi.

They’ll even price match Amazon (credit for difference in cost +10% bonus) just by filling out a form.

Kobo doesn't have wireless sync for third party book. That's a killing feature for many people on Kindle.

Kobo's default OS has Dropbox and Pocket support. You can just drop a book in your Dropboox and it'll appear on your Kobo through wireless sync.

Dropbox is only available on Kobo Forma, Sage, and Elipsa. It isn't available in more popular Libra 2 or Aura HD.