Redcoon is one of the largest online retailers in Germany and is a perfect first move for Kobo to sell its brand new Kobo Touch e-Reader in the German market. Over the weekend at IFA in Berlin, Kobo showed off their brand new Touch Screen Reader that was 100% localized for the German market. All of the menus, settings, and functionality were in German and should help the company penetrate the market much easier.
Last month Kobo opened its first German ebook store offering over 80,000 books exclusively in the German language and over 2.3 million in English. Integrated into the Kobo Touch is very solid dictionary that customers can look up words in real time in their own language. Although companies such as Amazon have tried to enter this particular foreign market before, their device does not have localized support for foreign languages.
The German store is managed by Kobo’s Germany-based team that also oversees EU business development, content, and merchandising in Germany. The team includes executives Kreutzfeldt and EU Director of Sales Thorsten Schröer, known for deep subject matter experience and connections within the European eReading community. “The retail partnership with redcoon starts in Germany, but is going beyond this market”, Schröer explains. “As Kobo expands to additional European countries later this year, redcoon will offer our products there as well.” Additional leading retail partners will be announced shortly.
“The availability of the <strong>Kobo eReader Touch Edition through redcoon provides Kobo with wide online retail footprint to serve the millions of consumers who want to read on-the-go,” said Todd Humphrey, EVP, Business Development at Kobo. “As of today, book lovers can find more than 80,000 German eBooks at Kobo, more selection than anywhere else, and that number continues to grow,” said Nina Kreutzfeldt, Director of Content Management EU, Kobo. “The vast selection of German titles were very well-received by attendees at the IFA show.”
[showhide type=’pressrelease’]KOBO STRIKES MAJOR EUROPEAN RETAIL DEAL: INNOVATIVE KOBO eREADER TOUCH EDITION AVAILABLE THROUGH REDCOON.DE STARTING OCT. 1
TORONTO – Sept 6, 2011 — Kobo, a global leader in eReading with over 4.7 million users worldwide, has announced that European online retailer redcoon (www.redcoon.de) will sell the company’s Kobo eReader Touch Edition beginning Oct. 1. Priced at 149 €, the innovative Kobo eReader Touch Edition comes with a rich feature set, including Kobo’s industry-leading Reading Life™ social eReading experience, providing fun, awards and sharing through Facebook and Twitter. Kobo offers more than 80,000 German language titles and a total of 2.5 million eBooks, delivering the largest eBook store and localized selection to the German eReading community.
redcoon is one of the largest online retailers for consumer electronics in Europe, serving consumers in Germany as well Austria, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Denmark and France – in this market segment, the online retailer is seen as a major competitor to Amazon.com in Europe.
“The availability of the Kobo eReader Touch Edition through redcoon provides Kobo with wide online retail footprint to serve the millions of consumers who want to read on-the-go,” said Todd Humphrey, EVP, Business Development at Kobo. “As of today, book lovers can find more than 80,000 German eBooks at Kobo, more selection than anywhere else, and that number continues to grow,” said Nina Kreutzfeldt, Director of Content Management EU, Kobo. “The vast selection of German titles were very well-received by attendees at the IFA show.”
For fans of English-language books, the Kobo eReader Touch Edition has German consumers covered. “Kobo eReader Touch Edition comes with integrated English and German language dictionaries,” continued Kreutzfeldt, “which makes reading books from Kobo’s huge English catalogue even easier.”
The German store is managed by Kobo’s Germany-based team that also oversees EU business development, content and merchandising in Germany. The team includes executives Kreutzfeldt and EU Director of Sales Thorsten Schröer, known for deep subject matter experience and connections within the European eReading community. “The retail partnership with redcoon starts in Germany, but is going beyond this market”, Schröer explains. “As Kobo expands to additional European countries later this year, redcoon will offer our products there as well.” Additional leading retail partners will be announced shortly.
About Kobo, Inc.
Kobo is a global eReading service with more than 2.5 million eBooks, magazines and newspapers – one of the largest eReading catalogues in the world. Kobo believes consumers should have the freedom to read any book on any device and has attracted millions of readers from over 100 countries across the globe. Kobo has top ranked eReading applications for iPad™, iPhone™, BlackBerry®, Android, Windows and MacOS, and is the eReading application of choice for leading tablet OEMs. The Kobo Wireless eReader and the new Kobo eReader Touch Edition is available at leading retailers, including Indigo, Walmart, Best Buy, WH Smith, Collins Booksellers and Whitcoull’s. Kobo’s innovative Reading Life is an industry-first comprehensive social eReading experience – Kobo users can earn awards simply for time spent reading and encouraging others. Kobo is backed by majority shareholder Indigo Books & Music Inc, Cheung Kong Holdings, and institutional investors.[/showhide]
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
