Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company that sells

ebook An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

e-readers An e-reader, also called an e reader or e device, is a Mobile computing, mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and Periodical literature, periodicals. Any device that can display text on ...

and formerly

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being computers ...

s. It is headquartered in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada and is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

conglomerate Rakuten. The name'' Kobo'' is an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of ''book''.

History

Kobo originated as Shortcovers, a

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

eReading service launched by the Canadian bookstore chain Indigo Books and Music in February 2009. In December 2009, Indigo renamed the service Kobo and spun it off into an independent company. Indigo remained the majority owner, with investors including Borders, Cheung Kong Holdings, and

REDgroup Retail REDgroup Retail was the former parent (private equity) company of the Australian and New Zealand divisions of Borders (retailer), Borders. It also owned other retail entities such as Angus & Robertson in Australia and Whitcoulls in New Zealand. ...

taking minority stakes. , Indigo Books & Music owned 58% of Kobo Inc.. Rakuten acquired the company from these owners in January 2012. On 23 May 2016,

Waterstones Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly Waterstone's), is a British bookselling, book retailer based in London, England, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 311 shops, ma ...

announced it had sold its

eBook An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

business to Rakuten Kobo Inc., and as of 14 June 2016, users were required to access their eBooks via Kobo's eBook site. During the COVID pandemic, Kobo worked with governments, publishers, and retail partners to provide more than 20 million free books through the “Stay Home and Read” programme. The company reported that romance and mystery novels continued to be bestsellers during the pandemic and that there was a rise in books for kids and young adults.

Products

E-readers

Kobo produces several

e-reader An e-reader, also called an e reader or e device, is a Mobile computing, mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and Periodical literature, periodicals. Any device that can display text on ...

s with ePaper screens. The first Kobo eReader was introduced in 2010. The product lineup went on to consist of the base model Kobo Touch, the smaller Kobo Mini, and the Kobo Glo, which has an illuminated screen. On the higher end, the Kobo Aura; the Kobo Aura HD, which added a higher- resolution screen, the waterproof Kobo Aura H₂O; and the waterproof Kobo Forma which added physical buttons and a choice of orientation. In 2018, the company released the Kobo Clara HD as another 6-inch option (the Aura Edition 2 being the first). In 2019, the Kobo Libra H2O was released. Kobo partnered with Hotel Viu Milan to create a Reader in Residence program and for a month, the Kobo Libra H2O was placed in hotel rooms for guests to use. In 2020, Kobo introduced the Kobo Nia, an entry-level e-reader to replace the discontinued Kobo Aura. In 2021, Kobo introduced the Kobo Elipsa, an e-reader and smart notebook that allows users to write on the screen. These eReaders compete with the

Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, Audible audiobooks, and other digital media via wireless networking ...

and Barnes & Noble Nook product lines. Kobo's eReaders use

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

to sync a user's book collection and bookmarks with Kobo's

service, which can also be accessed from Kobo eReading apps for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

computers, Android and

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

smartphones.

Tablets

Kobo produced the Kobo Arc family of Android tablets, which it introduced in 2012 and refreshed in 2013. It previously sold the

Kobo Vox Vox may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Vox (DC Comics) (Mal Duncan), a DC Comics superhero * Vox, a character in the adult animated series ''Hazbin Hotel'' * Vox, several characters in the anime series ''Lagrange: ...

, a 7-inch Android tablet released in 2011. In 2014, Kobo discontinued the Arc tablets and did not develop another one.

Applications

Kobo offers free reading applications for

and

MacOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

computers and Android and

smartphones. In June 2015, Kobo received a Top Developer badge in the Google Play store. In 2017, Kobo acquired Shelfie, an app that organises personal libraries.

Kobo Plus Subscription Service

Kobo Plus is the company’s unlimited audiobook and eBook subscription service. It was first released in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in 2017 and then expanded to Canada in 2020. In 2021, Kobo signed an agreement with LeYa, a Portuguese publishing group, and launched Kobo Plus e_LeYa, which made exclusive content available in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. As of May 2021, Kobo Plus offered 599,000 eBooks and 94,000 audiobooks. Books are available in many languages. Readers can choose to subscribe to only eBooks or to expand the service with Kobo Plus Listening, which includes audiobooks.

Store and publishing

Kobo's bookstore was opened in 2009. Content sold on the Kobo Bookstore includes eBooks, Audiobooks, newspapers, and magazines. The majority of titles are sold in the open ePub format, albeit with

Digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...

. Several digital bookstores have closed down and transferred their users to Kobo's bookstore. They include the defunct Borders, as well as the Sony Reader Store. Both have provided tools for users to migrate purchases and information to Kobo's offering. On 17 July 2012, Kobo launched a self-publishing platform called Kobo Writing Life (KWL). Key features of Kobo Writing Life include "deep analytics", allowing authors to track sales in real-time; a "learning centre" to guide newcomers in digital publishing; and allowing an author to sell books globally. In 2019, KWL began offering self-publishing opportunities for Audiobooks.

Emerging Writer Prize

The Kobo Emerging Writer Prize awards three first-time Canadian authors with CAD 10,000 each. The awards are given in three categories, Literary Fiction, Nonfiction, and Genre Fiction, with the genre selection changing each year. Traditionally published, and self-published books are eligible, and authors receive marketing and communications support during their winning year. In 2021, the award’s seventh year, the winning authors were: Michelle Good, author of Five Little Indians (Fiction); Eternity Martis, author of They Said This Would Be Fun (Nonfiction); and Emily Hepditch, author of The Woman in the Attic (Mystery). At the same time as the Libra 2, the Kobo Sage was also introduced as a new top model. It has an 8" E-Ink Carta 1200 display with a resolution of 1440 × 1920 pixels and 32 GB internal memory. A Bluetooth module and a USB-C port have also been installed. In addition, as with the Elipsa, it is possible to capture notes on the device with a stylus.

Sales and market share

Kobo sells its devices online and through physical retail channels. The company's strategic partnerships have included Cheung Kong Holdings, WHSmith, Whitcoulls,

FNAC Fnac () is a French multinational retail chain specializing in the sale of entertainment Media (communication), media and consumer electronics. Fnac was founded by André Essel and Max Théret in 1954. Its headquarters is located in ''Le Flavia' ...

, Livraria Cultura, and Eslite Bookstore. Kobo partnered with

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

online bookseller Booktopia and also has a programme partnering with independent bookstores to sell their devices. In 2012, ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' named Kobo as the "only global competitor to Amazon n the eBook market with over 20 % of the worldwide market. Kobo Inc. released eBook reading data collected from over 21 million readers worldwide in 2014. Some of the data said that only 45 % of UK readers finished the bestselling eBook '' The Goldfinch''. As of August 2018, Amazon's Kindle eReader had an 83.6% share of the U.S. eReader market while Kobo had a 13.4 % share.

Venture with Walmart

In 2018, the company and Walmart contracted to allow the latter to sell Kobo audiobooks,

eBooks An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

and eReaders in the U.S. This was the first venture into eBooks for the retailer which also began selling the Kobo eReaders. Walmart installed eReader stations in over 1,000 stores. Their eBook Web site was listing over 6 million titles. The retailer also began to offer subscriptions for audiobooks at a monthly fee.

Venture with bol

In the Netherlands, Bol.com is contracted to sell Kobo audiobooks,

and eReaders.

References

External links

* {{Rakuten Ebook sources Ebook suppliers Audiobook companies and organizations Book selling websites Bookstores of Canada Bookstores of Japan Bookstores of Portugal Bookstores of Germany Bookstores of India Bookshops of Ireland Bookstores of the United States Bookshops of the United Kingdom Bookshops of Australia Bookshops of New Zealand Bookshops of Brazil Bookstores of France Bookstores in the Netherlands Canadian brands Companies based in Toronto Canadian companies established in 2009 Consumer electronics retailers of Canada Electronics companies of Canada Internet properties established in 2009 Online retailers of Canada Publishing companies established in 2009 Rakuten Self-publishing companies 2009 establishments in Ontario 2012 mergers and acquisitions Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies