Price point is high? Based on what? I'd say the price is too low for the expected volume.

Resolution is fairly low. You can get cheaper Kobo's with higher resolution. Here's a 7" one:

https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders/products/certi...

Kobos are fairly hackable, and I suspect one could program a Kobo to do the same as what he is doing.

Exactly, the market he is trying to serve has the customer as his own competitor. That is a bad position to be in. I wouldn't want to be my own customer, would you?

Two recommendations.

1) Go wireless with enough power for like 500 screen updates for 6 weeks between recharges.

2) Find a market where your customers can't make the product

> Based on what?

Based on it being a semi-impulse buy, since I don't see many people explicitly searching for "framed programmable e-ink calendar."

I’ve tried instagram ads and it didn’t work. But probably I just suck at marketing.