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Archive for kobo
Kobo Touch on Sale for $89.99
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The Kobo Touch e-Reader is the latest generation device that has a full touchscreen display, and it is one of the better ones on the market. It currently supports many foreign languages, such as German, French, English, and many more. Shop e-Readers is now selling the Kobo Touch at a rock bottom rate of $89.99, which is $10 less than what you would pay at Chapters/Indigo.
You can purchase this device and have it shipped to any country in the world at this price! Click HERE for more information on it and if you are feeling flush, make a purchase!
Harry Potter eBooks now Available at Kobo
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Kobo has just landed a deal for the seven new Harry Potter eBooks. Kobo customers across the globe will have access to them in many different languages such as; English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish to begin with, and more languages on the way.
The eBooks themselves are not available for purchase with Kobo but instead you are redirected to the Pottermore website. Once you buy the books you can link your Kobo account to the purchase and then easily transfer them to your Kobo e-Reader or many of the Kobo apps on iOS or Android.
This new arrangement with Kobo is of a similar vein to the established relationship that Pottermore has with Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Sony and Google. All of these vendors do not physically sell the digital content but instead send you the main Pottermore website. This really marks the first time an author has a copious amount of control that major companies are bending over backwards and making their customers visit a 3rd party website to purchase these books.
The entire Harry Potter eBook series is doing tremendously well with a recent report citing that Pottermore raked in over five million dollars in sales in their very first month. The deal with Kobo is a solid one because they have their hands in more markets then most of their competition. This allows many users in Canada, Australia and Europe to easily read the books.
Michael Tamblyn, Executive Vice President Content, Sales & Merchandising, Kobo, commented: “We’re excited to bring together the extremely successful Harry Potter phenomenon and the always-enthusiastic Kobo eReading community. Fans have been waiting for years to see the Harry Potter series in digital and now that wait is over.”
In other Kobo news, their parent company Rakuten invested over 100 million dollars in Pinterest. The two companies will be working out an arrangement to get photo sharing on the Kobo Vox and integration into their other apps. Also, be sure to check out the official Kobo Blog where they talk about our website and our review of their new Kobo Instant Reader.
Today’s Deal for Discounted eBooks on the Kobo Website Is Broken
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Kobo has made a habit in the last few years of selecting ebooks to discount with their “Today’s Deal” section. It seems this feature is broken or maybe discontinued. Many users have been experiencing the error message, “Today’s Deal is empty or you may be geographically restricted from viewing its contents – try selecting a new list.” People also have been looking further into the website with the “Browse by Category” and “Recommended Reading” sections, but to no avail.
Kobo Cloud Reader Released – Brings HTML5 to the iPad
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The Kobo Cloud Reader was officially unveiled today and allows you to use your internet browser to both buy and read books. This new browser based reader was in development for the last six months and finally allows iOS readers the ability to buy books.
The Kobo app for iOS does not let you buy books anymore and neither do any of the other large ebook companies. Amazon released their own Kindle Cloud Reader around four months ago and Kobo finally released theirs. You can access your current library of books and make new purchases on Apple Safari and Google Chrome. Read comfortably on your PC at home and pick up where you left off at your work on the iPad. Your last read page is maintained across all of the different platforms that Kobo has.
The Kobo Cloud Reader allows you a fair bit of customization in your ebook experience. You can increase the font size between nine different options and everything refreshes in real time. You have 4 major fonts to select from if the publisher’s default is not to your liking. You can change the page justifications and backgrounds. I really like e-reading apps that allow you flexibility in changing the color of your book’s background. Sometimes when you are reading late at night that pure white background is hard on the eyes and different colors for nighttime reading is a blessing.
Any past purchases you made from Kobo are attached to the Cloud Reader and you can get free samples to check out a new book. The samples right now are relegated to the first page of the first chapter, so you won’t get a clear idea of what the book is about. When you decide to buy a book there is an area to input COUPON codes! Kobo is notorious for offering massively discounted codes that result in most books being available for less then a few dollars.
Check out the new Kobo Cloud Reader today at http://read.kobobooks.com
Chapters offering Kobo Touch e-Reader for $99
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Canadian bookseller Chapters will be slashing the price on the Kobo Touch e-Reader on April 27th. The price has been reduced from the normal price of $139 to a paltry $99.99 and comes with 2 free ebooks. If you are a member of the Plum Rewards program you can get the deal one day early. This will insure if your local bookstore does not have a ton left in inventory you can get your hands on one.
Kobo tends to release a new e-reader every year and reduces the price on the previous generation models to deplete inventory. In the last few weeks Sony and iRiver have both discontinued their devices at major retailers in Canada and the USA. Many new e-Readers should be unveiled during the next few months.
Kobo Intends on Offering Books and eReaders in Brazil Q2 2012
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Amazon is not the only company focusing on the the largest market in South America to distribute e-readers and eBooks. During a Rakuten Super Expo yesterday Todd Humphrey, EVP, Business Development at Kobo said that his company will be launching in Brazil in the second quarter.
Kobo intends on forming partnerships with bookstores in Brazil to sell their devices to the end user. It is rumored that the company is in negotiations with Culture or Scott, two of the largest bookstores. The company intends on actively marketing their Kobo Vox Android Tablet and their Kobo Touch eReader.
Kobo is no stranger to international expansion and has pushed hard into Europe. You can find localized versions of the books in Spain, France, Germany and the UK. The company always courts publishing partners to offer books by home grown authors and bestsellers that orientated in those countries. Since Rakuten aqquired Kobo last year, at the top of the priority list is international expansion. “We are working with Brazilian publishers and closing sales agreements with retailers, as well as a large chain of bookstores to distribute the eBook readers,” said Humphrey, which was excited about the digital book market in Brazil, “In over 5 years, 50% of digital books will be in Brazil “bet.
It looks like the next battle ground for e-Readers and Books will be in Brazil. Amazon will be marketing their own closed ecosystem that has audiobooks, self-publishing and many more devices. Kobo rides on the premise of supporting a widely adopted ePUB format that allows customers to easily load in their own books.
via ZTOP
Kobo to Roll Out 100 Stores Within WHSmith Locations
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Kobo intends on rolling out 100 boutique style stores within 100 different WHSmith bookstore locations in the United Kingdom. They will be manned by dedicated Kobo employees with deep product knowledge that can help you decide what device is perfect for you. They will be selling the Kobo Vox, Kobo Touch, and various accessories for their e-readers.
The Kobo store within a store concept takes its cues from a pilot project the company had been running at a few of WHSmith’s largest locations. One of the boons on this enterprise is that all of the areas will be outfitted with WiFi and PCs and knowledgeable Kobo experts. Customers will have the chance to experience Kobo, learn about ereading, purchase the devices, browse the Kobo eBookstore, and activate their Kobo account before leaving the store. They will also provide a bit of technical support if you have a unit that is not working properly and attempt to help you troubleshoot it.
“We value our partnership with WHSmith and are excited to have dedicated, knowledgeable staff members who will educate WHSmith customers and introduce them to the benefits of Kobo.” said Mike Serbinis, CEO of Kobo. “We know that in partnership with WHSmith we will deliver an engaging in-store experience that will demonstrate our expertise, best-in-class design, easy user experience, and innovative product line.”
I think this is a savvy move by Kobo that gives them a distinctive presence in the UK. Amazon currently sells its range of devices at various store locations but remains an afterthought in most shelves. Barnes and Noble has seen success with its dedicated Nook areas in most store locations, and in most cases has expanded the areas due to customer demand. With Barnes and Noble prospectively opening in the UK soon, Kobo needs to brand itself most effectively. This seems to be a move in the right direction.
Gena Showalter Will Be the First Author to Chat with Fans via Kobo Pulse
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If you love the book The Darkest Seduction by Gena Showalter, you are in luck! The author will be one of the first ever to do a chat with her fans using the Kobo Pulse platform.
Kobo Pulse allows VOX owners to chat with other people or leave comments in real time. You can check out how many people have read the book or are currently reading it. If you want to chat with Gena, it is fairly easy! All you have to do is purchase the book and have it in your main library shelf. When you click on the Pulse button there will be a new author symbol that you can click on. You can chat with Gena and your fellow readers on plot points, fun facts, and the characters in The Darkest Seduction. To make it even sweeter, interact with Gena and you’ll unlock the Author-ized Reader Award.
Kobo Forms Partnership with McClatchy Newspapers
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Kobo has just formed a partnership with McClatchy Newspapers to bring digital newspapers to readers in the USA. Starting today, you will be able to get access to a wide array of weekly and daily newspapers that cater to local markets.
The McClatchy Company is the third-largest newspaper company in the United States, bringing daily and weekly newspapers from across 15 states to Kobo customers. McClatchy offers local favorites, including The Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald , Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer, and The News & Observer. Each of the 30 newspapers that are provided come with a free two week trial to get you reading right away and test the waters before you sign up with a longer term subscription plan.
“Kobo is dedicated to bringing its customers a superior digital content experience through our best-in-class eReading service, award winning eReaders, and free eReading applications,” said Jan Ehrlich, Director of Newspapers and Periodicals at Kobo. “We are thrilled to bring the McClatchy Company on board as part of our premier newspaper offering.”
You can check out all of the McClatchy newspapers along with all of the newspapers currently offered by Kobo by visiting the Kobo Newsstand.
Kobo Employees Sound off on Why they Dig working for the Company
Posted by: | CommentsKobo has an impromptu meeting with employees last week and asked the staff members what they liked about working for the company. Various people from all over the organization and spoke about the culture, perspectives on growth, and shared one word descriptions of Kobo. This video gives you a cool introspective about the company that most other e-reader and eBook companies never do.
Kobo WIFI on Sale at ASDA for only £49.00
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The Kobo WIFI was the second model the company ever made and has enjoyed fairly robust sales in Canada and overseas. This model of course is not the newest Touch model but a fairly budget friendly e-reader that is controlled by the D-Pad and manual page turn buttons. ASDA was one of the first companies in the UK to do business with Kobo and sell their devices in a retail setting. They have just put the Kobo WIFI on Sale from £67.00 to £49.00.
Really if you are looking for a fairly inexpensive e-reader you could do worse. This edition is a six inch e-ink pearl display and taps into a massive Kobo ecosystem. You can download newspapers, magazines and millions of eBooks. It connects up to your private or public WIFI to purchase content and then can be used offline to read all of your books.
Kobo Updates iPad App to support Retina Display
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The official Kobo iOS app has undergone massive changes since it first debuted a few years ago and serves as their staging ground to test new features that eventually trickle done into other devices. Today the company updated their iPad firmware to version 5.4.1 which makes it place nice with the iPad 3 Retina Display.
One of the main changes found in the new update was the new homescreen that has been re-designed. You also have the ability to download millions of free books now which makes it one of the few iPad apps that allow you to actually download stuff.
Ever wonder what other people are saying publicly about specific passages? There is a new public notes feature that you can check out what other people think about certain aspects of books. You can make your own comments and be notified automatically if people are responding to you.
Finally, text looks really good now! Everything feels sharper and feels very much like the recent update found in the Kindle for iPad app. Check out some of the pictures below showing you some of the new features.
Kobo Touch Firmware 1.9.17 Due Out Soon
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Kobo is poised to release a new version of firmware for its first touchscreen e-reader within the next few days. It will bring a number of enhancements and key features that should dramatically increase page turn speeds and integration into the Facebook Timeline.
The next release of the Kobo Touch 1.9.17 firmware and Kobo Desktop Manager software should be out within one week. This will mark the first time the company has issued an update in the last few months. Here is a taste of the new features that are going to be made available:
• Improved recognition of page-turn taps
• Home screen correctly remembers your carousel choice
• Improved sync performance
• Fixed rendering of menu items where a word is highlighted
• Fixed trouble connecting to Wi-Fi in some cases
• Option to share your reading activity to Facebook Timeline
• SD card performance has been improved
• Other stability and performance improvements
Desktop: 2.1.7
• Improved syncing performance
• Hover over recommendations for more information
• Improved syncing of annotations between e-readers and desktop software
• Fixed issues with navigating to search results
• Various bug fixes and performance improvements
