I feel like this is more of a publisher/vendor problem than a hardware problem. The Kobo is perfectly capable hardware--moreso than the Kindle, I'd say, due to

I feel like this is more of a publisher/vendor problem than a hardware problem. The Kobo is perfectly capable hardware--moreso than the Kindle, I'd say, due to its support of EPUB. You are perfectly capable of reading DRM-free books on it if you can find them. But the vast majority of publishers sell their book wrapped in some kind of DRM, and so if the hardware manufacturer wants publishers to do business with them, they have to support DRM. I don't think that will change unless we, as consumers, decide to reject DRM. With that said, we failed with pretty much every other DRM format, the notable exception being iTunes audio, where Apple had enough market presence to be able to say No. Kobo doesn't, and it is extremely unlikely that Amazon would die on that hill, given that the Kindle doesn't even support open formats at the moment.