Who is kobo

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David Rosenberg: Our ranking finds Canada second frothiest housing market in the world. Canadian Tire misses expectations as demand cools from pandemic highs. Sony eventually got nudged out of the business due to the prices of e-readers coming down, to a such a point, that it was not financially viable anymore to continue and their e-book business was destroyed by Amazon.

In February Sony announced that they were exiting the eBook space and Kobo would take over their book business. In January Tesco was not doing so hot with their Blinkbox Books business unit and decided to close their store down and transfer all of their customer purchases and e-books over to Kobo.

Flipkart is the largest e-commerce site in India and they got swept up in the whole e-book craze of and when it launched its e-book service.

The following year they released a mobile app for Android, iOS and Windows so people could read all of their digital content while on the go.

They decided to close down their e-book service in December , because the general public failed to embrace the digital format. Once again Kobo was earmarked to take over their e-book business for an indeterminate sum of money. The company tried really hard to make their digital business work, by allowing grocery customers to use their points to get free e-books, or at least discounts. In October the company announced they were closing their shop and transferring everything over to Kobo.

In many cases, we are helping them out as they reach the end of their runway. And the companies who are working with us are happy too. Instead of a ngry customers wondering where their books went, readers and their libraries are taken care of.

When Kobo was purchased by Rakuten, one of their first acquisitions was the french digital publishing company Aquafadas to bolster the breadth of content available on its e-reader devices, for which it claims 10 million users in countries. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed. Thus enabling publishers to create richly designed content without the need for any coding chops. The Kobo hook up is about bringing distribution directly to that publishing platform.

The Tolino Alliance was formed in and their mandate was to combat Amazon in Germany. This was the first time Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Club Bertelsmann, Deutsche Telekom banded together to forge a series of e-reading devices and launch an online bookstore. In Kobo purchased the backend infrastructure from Deutsche Telekom which included thousands of German language e-books. Kobo also got access to the software which powers the Tolino line of e-readers and backend software that powers the cloud sync platform.

The level of investment required to be truly competitive in devices and mobile reading requires international scope and scale. But with that scale, we can then keep bricks-and-mortar retailers fully in the ebook game. So Tolino was a perfect fit for us — a national ebook solution that had achieved great success in German-speaking markets that wanted to do more and be even better. With that acquisition, we all benefit.

More economies of scale for the e-reader business, exchange of ideas and technology that help us all be better digital booksellers, and our being able to bring new capabilities to a very successful retail coalition.

In German-speaking markets, Kobo will shift its focus from selling Kobo devices to concentrating on supporting Tolino in those markets. Shelfie formally known as Bit. Shelfie is a digital bundling platform that allows you to scan your physical bookshelf and it will produce a list of audiobooks and e-books that are eligible to receive discounts.

The company has relationships with hundreds of publishers and they all bought into the fact that if you own the print version, you should receive some sort of discount when investing in the digital edition.

That has a lot of very interesting applications for a company like Kobo that wants to be as helpful as possible in helping someone to find their next great book. The second is their being at the forefront of thinking about how ebooks and print books can coexist at retail — obviously interesting to us as the leader of a worldwide retail coalition bridging print and digital.

Very very cool, all of it. Kobo Plus is an unlimited e-book subscription program that launched in the Netherlands and Belgium back in February Over the course of the past five months things have been really quiet, there has been no meaningful data on how Plus has been performing, until now.

BOL and Kobo offer a free day free trial and 75 percent of users ended up paying for a monthly subscription and users have read over a million hours. Daniel Ropers, general director of bol. Kobo plans to have 20, Dutch-language titles by the end of the year.

Since its launch, the catalog has grown from over 40, to over 80, titles and currently 18, of these are in Dutch. Since Plus first launched over new publishers have been added. I think one of the driving forces behind the success of Kobo Plus is how easy it is to purchase a subscription.

Users can sign up directly on their e-readers and be able to filter out other categories to only display Kobo Plus books. We have great market share. We sell a lot of e-readers. We have amazing relationships with publishers. So there are a lot of readers sitting outside of the legitimate market and a lot of authors not getting paid at all for their work. This let us have a very constructive set of conversations with publishers: what would bring pirate readers back to paying for books?

How can we create a sustainable model that avoids some of the challenges that other subscription services have faced? And how can we make sure everybody benefits — the reader, the author, the publisher, Kobo, and our retail partner bol. We managed to do all of that and, unlike some services in other markets, get all major publishers on board, get best selling front lists as well as backlists, get major authors alongside self-published authors to create a comprehensive catalog that would make any reader happy.

In late Kobo launched an audiobook bookstore that sells audiobooks individually and also provides them on a subscription level basis. Their entire audiobook catalog is powered by Overdrive and this is the first time they have ever been involved in an audiobook subscription scheme. Customers will get one credit a month with their subscription and they can be redeemed for any audiobook title on the platform.

You can also purchase Kobo Audiobooks individually and shop with confidence with their Price Match Guarantee. In addition, readers earn Kobo Super Points on their monthly subscription fees or audiobook purchases. Kobo has updated their app for Android and iOS and have brought over a fully functional audiobook player.

You can make purchases and listen to your content on Android, and with iOS you can only listen to titles you have already bought or have used a credit on. You cannot make purchases directly on your iPhone or iPad. Quick Navigation Amazon E-Readers. Aura Edition 2. Amazon E-Readers. Pros: Audible : In today's busy society, more and more people are switching to audiobooks, or at least including them in their rotation. Thankfully Amazon's cheapest tablet includes Kindle support via Bluetooth.

This feature is a mixed bag. While on the one hand, support for audiobooks is nice to have, on the other hand, you have to own a Bluetooth headset. This is kind of a bummer because you not only have to keep track of a Bluetooth headset, but you also have to keep it charged. This almost entirely defeats the weeks of battery offered by the Kindle. Bluetooth: Bluetooth itself is a pro. For those who already own a Bluetooth headset and include it in their daily carry, it's a great feature.

You will be able to take advantage of audible books without sacrificing the battery life of your smartphone. Battery: Kindle offers up to 6 weeks of battery! For those who frequently pull out their smartphone to read a book, this offers an alternative. You can conserve your smartphone battery for other tasks and you will have a much easier time reading on a bigger screen with a display that is designed to come close to the experience of reading an actual book.

Small form factor: If you are adding an extra device to your bag, it's nice if it's relatively small. At just over 6", you won't notice too much added weight and it won't take up much space. The device is also pretty easy to hold in one hand without making your arm tired. This is especially handy if you read in the morning while you eat or hold coffee or another drink. Durable: The Kindle's al plastic design makes it a pretty durable device.

If you plan to let children use it the durability means that you can leave it with them without much worry that it will break. Its inexpensive price tag means that it's accessible to pretty much everyone.

This isn't great in every case though because with a low cost comes some cut corners. While it's all around a solid device, there are some cons. Cons: Plastic screen: One of the things that Amazon did to keep costs low on the Kindle was include a plastic display. This display accomplishes most of the same functions that any other Kindle device can but at the cost of sharpness, which if you have bad eyesight like I do, forces you to look at the more expensive Kindle devices for sharper text and a better overall reading experience.

No Backlight: Many people read at night, or in less than optimal lighting conditions. This makes a backlight an almost essential feature. Unfortunately, the Kindle omitted it with their entry e-reader.

The lack of backlight means that if you plan on reading at night, you will need an alternate source of light, like a lamp or a reading light attachment. In my opinion, the fewer accessories that you have to carry around, the better.

So this is a definite con. No Headphone Jack: As one of the few e-readers that Amazon offers with Audible support, it's mind-boggling that there is no headphone jack on the Kindle. This limits Audible support to people with Bluetooth headsets or Speakers. We would have really liked to see the inclusion of a headphone jack or even speakers, but with the price being so low, this isn't necessarily a deal breaker, just disappointing. Every audiobook stored also means less space for traditional books.

Recap The Kindle is a really interesting device. Pros: Battery: The battery life on the Paperwhite is still in weeks. This is great because it means that you can take toss it in your bag without a charger and take it with you for pretty much any occasion without worry that it will die. Form Factor : The Paperwhite retains the same 6" screen as the Kindle, with the exception of a slightly bigger body.

The size difference is negligible, so you still get the same great reading experience, no matter how you are holding it. This is the same sharpness as the most expensive Kindle device and my eyes really appreciate the added clarity.

Backlight: While technically edge lighting, we are glad that the Paperwhite has some sort of built-in light for reading in the dark or in poor lighting conditions. Edge lighting is especially nice because it's a softer glow and isn't directed right into your eyeballs. This translates into longer, more comfortable reading session. Durable: Like the Kindle, The Paperwhite has a plastic frame, with a recessed plastic screen. This keeps the screen safe from face-down drops. Plastic screens are also harder to break than glass displays in general.

Cellular: The Paperwhite comes with free cellular and, while slower than LTE that you pay for, you will be able to visit the Kindle store and keep your books up to date with all devices from virtually anywhere, even without Wifi. That is strange considering Amazon's cheapest product has both Audible support as well as Bluetooth. Two things that the more expensive device doesn't include. On the other hand, this stretches that 4GB of storage to about books since you won't need the space for audio books.

Whether this is truly a con or not is really up to the user. Price wise we still find it an odd decision on Amazon's end. Plastic Screen: Although I mentioned that the screen is durable. I don't think that it's the best for reading. It's not as sharp as Amazon's glass display that it includes in it's higher priced devices. This is partially remedied by the higher resolution included with the Paperwhite, but a glass display is still a better material to read on. Recap The Paperwhite is Amazon's second least expensive reading device.

Pros: Screen: The screen on the Voyage is a step above the low-end Kindles. Not only is the screen flush with the device for a smooth feel, but the screen is also glass. While the Paperwhite and Voyage both have the same ppi, you get an extra bit of clarity from a glass display. It being flush with the device also makes for a better touch experience which is a bonus.

Additionally, the Voyage has an ambient light sensor that will adjust the light coming from your screen so that it's always easy to read. Touch sensors: To the sides of the display are sensors that allow you to turn the page without having to touch the screen, giving you more ways to interact with the device.