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Originally Posted by neilmarr
Why the Kobo song and dance? This is simple DRM-free policy.
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No, there's a little more than song and dance here. This is not the first post that Kobo execs have written passionately about an open platform.
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Our open platform means you can own a Sony or Nook reader and buy books on kobobooks.com. You can take advantage of great coupons and promotions we offer on an ongoing basis, and simply transfer your books onto your Sony Reader or Nook just like you were shopping from their stores.
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Imagine that: Kobo mentions the competition by name, welcoming those customers to bring their existing readers and enjoy the benefits of Kobobooks.
Kobo puts some muscle behind their words: they have an app for several other devices: Android tablets, iPad, Blackberry, Android phone, iPhone, PCs, Mac and even Linux -- not mention other devices like the Literati. They have deals to sell the Kobo ereader at Borders but also sell at Walmart. They've striven to build local content for at least four English-speaking markets.
Yes, Amazon has done most (but not all!) of these things too ... exclusively for Kindle format. And Amazon generates $30 billion in annual revenue. Kobo, on the other hand, launched its ereader less than six months ago and sells it
in stores in Canada, US, NZ and Australia. It's book catalogue is extensive and growing. Kobo is determined to be a major player internationally and has made many right moves. Sure, there have been growing pains -- they could support smaller publishers better but they ARE a tiny gnat relative to Amazon and resources take time to build.
Within the context of today's industry, it's hard to argue that Kobo is not doing everything it can to embrace openness.