Kobo is bringing out a $149 eReader sometime in May, in time for Mother’s Day.

Is this bad timing? What with the coming out next week of the Apple iPad, the saviour of the publishing industry?  Actually NO. As enamored as I am with the iPad and my belief it will save MAGAZINE and newspapers, I don’t think the Kobo will be hurt by the iPad.

A bright, sharp, high resolution, LED backlit, color LCD screen is an impressive looking display. A transmissive display with the light coming out at you can make photos, videos, web pages, and other images look great but a reflective, E Ink display which the Kobo eReader is equipped with,  uses light bouncing off the screen just like paper and ink  can more closely resemble the experience of reading a printed page.

Battery life is where electrophoretic E Ink displays really out shine (pun intended) LCD displays. As reflective displays don’t need backlights and only use a minuscule amount of power when the screen is not changing, the battery on the Kobo e-Readers can last for weeks rather than the 10 hours of the iPad.

But don’t just take my word for it … check out the demo video for the Kobo eReader.