In January Rakuten Kobo announced that they formed an exclusive distribution agreement with Walmart. Sometime this year Walmart will carry the complete line of Kobo e-readers in all of retail locations and will sell audiobooks and ebooks on their website. Kobo and Walmart will also be releasing a co-branded e-reading … [Read more...]
Kobo Launches Rapid Page-Turn System
Kobo has just launched a new firmware update (4.8.10956) for all of their e-readers that increases the speed of your page-turns with a new rendering engine. You can turn this feature on by going to the reading settings menu and choose to turn pages by tapping or swiping, or by swiping only. This new system is great, … [Read more...]
Kobo Wishlist for Audiobooks and eBooks Now Available for Desktop
All of the Kobo mobile apps and e-readers have a wishlist system, where users can add ebooks to a dedicated list. Sometimes they do it to organize future purchases and others express a desire to read them, but without immediate intent to purchase. The main Kobo retail website for MAC and PC have been without a wishlist … [Read more...]
Kobo eBook Sales Increase by 60%
Kobo ebook sales have increased 60% year on year, according to the latest financial report by their parent company Rakuten. This includes the money that Kobo made from purchasing the Tolino assets last year. Kobo offers its digital reading experience to millions of readers around the world in 190 countries through … [Read more...]
Kobo Audiobooks are now available in France
Kobo Audiobooks are now available in France and customers can now subscribe for €9.99 per month and get access to a single audio title. There is currently only 5,000 French audiobooks on the platform, but more should be coming soon. In order to promote the Kobo platform, their primary distribution partner FNAC has … [Read more...]
The Kobo Clara HD is a new e-reader that is coming out soon
Kobo has developed a new e-reader called the Clara HD and the product should be released sometime next month. This device just hit the FCC and the official specs are embargoed, which is what Kobo normally does when they are about to release something new. The battery on the Clara HD is 1500 mAh, which is … [Read more...]
Kobo Aura H2O is Discontinued
Kobo has discontinued their first generation Aura H2O, which is their first generation waterproof e-reader. This device first came out in 2014 and it was the last model that had an SD card to increase the internal storage. Kobo continues to sell the Kobo H2O edition 2, which debuted last year. Kobo only has three … [Read more...]
Kobo Plus Considered a Massive Success
Kobo Plus is an unlimited ebook service that is only available in the Netherlands and the platform is celebrating their one year anniversary. There have been over 125,000 people that have paid the fees to download as many titles as they want. Publishers have been embracing this new digital distribution system, Plus … [Read more...]
Roundtable – Dual Screen e-readers, B&N and Walmart Kobo e-Readers
Welcome to another exciting edition of the Good e-Reader Roundtable with Michael and Peter. Today on the show the two fellows talk about the recent firings Barnes and Noble made last week, where 1,800 people were let go. Walmart and Kobo struck a deal where audiobooks and ebooks would be sold on the Walmart website and … [Read more...]
Will people buy audiobooks and ebooks from Walmart?
Walmart and Kobo announced a strategic alliance a few weeks ago, where the retailer will stock Kobo e-readers in hundreds of their stores in the United States and sell audiobooks and ebooks online. Walmart and Kobo will be running a co-branded app for Android and iOS to listen to your purchases. Will Kindle and Nook … [Read more...]
Kobo Aura Edition 2 Receives a $20 Discount
Kobo has discounted their latest generation e-reader, the Kobo Aura Edition 2. You can purchase it from their website and a number of their retail partners for $109.99, which is a savings of $20 off of the regular price. The Edition 2 features a six inch E-Ink Carta display with a resolution of 1024 X 768 and 212 … [Read more...]
Kobo eReading and audiobook app review for iOS – iPad and iPhone
The Kobo e-reading app for iOS has really grown up in the past few years. The home screen can be customized with your collections and all other media you have downloaded or purchased. Kobo Audiobooks launched a few months ago and the app has gained an audioplayer. Today we conduct a comprehensive video review where you … [Read more...]