Sony closing Europe and Aus stores 16 June 2014

[Lynx-lynx]

Email received just now:

Dear Reader Store Customer:
As you know, our customers always come first, which is why we want to give you the news firsthand about an announcement made today from Sony regarding its plan to close Reader Store in Europe and Australia.

Although we're sorry to say goodbye to the Reader Store, we're also glad to share with you the new, exciting future for our readers: Reader Store will transfer customers to Kobo - an admired eBook seller with a passionate reading community. We strongly believe that this transition will allow you to enjoy a continued high-quality eReading experience. As a result of this change, we will close Reader Store on 16 June 2014.

So, what's next?

In late June, you will receive an email from Kobo with a personalised link that will allow you to easily transfer your library to Kobo, whether you are new to Kobo or already have an account.

In some cases, eBooks you have previously purchased may not be available at Kobo and will not be included in the transfer. We suggest that you download your eBooks from Reader Store prior to 16 June 2014. For further information on how to re-download your eBooks, click here.

We are fully committed to helping you through this exciting transition to Kobo. With the Kobo Store, you'll have access to more than 4 million of the world's best books, magazines, comics and kids' titles, all at your fingertips.

We want to thank you for being such loyal customers, a part of our reading family, and for your continued support as we work to complete this transition. It has been a pleasure reading with you!

Sincerely,

The Reader Store Team


Click here for frequently asked questions about this communication.

If you are not interested in transferring to Kobo click here

Find out more about Kobo by clicking here.

[Apache]

And so it continues.
Apache

[MickiTee]

Not surprised. It was just a matter of when not if following the closure of the US store.

And the links in the email are not working for me. Anyone else having a problem?

Not looking forward to this as this will be the second time I've had my account transfered to Kobo because an ebook store has closed -the first time was from WH Smith. To this day I still don't know how many epub books, in addition to all my PDF's, didn't get transfered.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by MickiTee

Not surprised. It was just a matter of when not if following the closure of the US store.

And the links in the email are not working for me. Anyone else having a problem?

Not looking forward to this as this will be the second time I've had my account transfered to Kobo because an ebook store has closed -the first time was from WH Smith. To this day I still don't know how many epub books, in addition to all my PDF's, didn't get transfered.

Two of my links work: How to Download and Opt Out.

But not the other two: FAQ and Find out more about Kobo

I didn't bother transferring any of my US account books over to Kobo - I've got them all in Calibre and they've been cleaned since the day I bought them.

I won't bother transferring any of my Aus store ones either.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

I didn't bother transferring any of my US account books over to Kobo - I've got them all in Calibre and they've been cleaned since the day I bought them.

I won't bother transferring any of my Aus store ones either.

Most of my US titles transferred without any fuss, and if I have any on my UK account, I'll apply to get those transferred too.

Unlike the horrendous Fictionwise->B&N debacle, I found the Sony US->Kobo transfer to be remarkably painless.

[mXb]

Oh no Sony UK store to close !

When Sony US closed someone promised me faithfully that Sony's UK store would not close ! ........ and now it is closing.

I feel so let down...

[fjtorres]

Cnet's report:
http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/sony-rea...ia-and-the-uk/

Following the February announcement that it would be selling Vaio and shutting its e-reader business in the US, Sony will close its Reader Store in the remaining western markets -- Australia, the UK, Germany and Austria.

As with the closure of the US and Canadian stores, all Sony Reader Store customers will be migrated across to the Kobo platform. The Sony store is due to close on 16 June 2014, after which the Kobo Android app -- which includes the Kobo ebook store and an e-reader -- will be pre-loaded on selected Sony Xperia smartphones and tablets.

[tubemonkey]

Looks like Sony Mars isn't long for the world

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by mXb

Oh no Sony UK store to close !

When Sony US closed someone promised me faithfully that Sony's UK store would not close ! ........ and now it is closing.

I feel so let down...

It seemed pretty inevitable that the others would follow. By the same token, don't hold out any hope on buying another ereader from Sony in future either, you'll only end up disappointed!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by soulfuldog

It seemed pretty inevitable that the others would follow. By the same token, don't hold out any hope on buying another ereader from Sony in future either, you'll only end up disappointed!

Not as a Sony, no.
There has been some speculation that the Sony-Kobo deal might extend the other way, with Sony OEM'ing new Kobo hardware. Not a terribly high probability but as they say... "it could happen".

[library addict]

Expected news but still sad.

[chrisridd]

Is anyone surprised by this?

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

There has been some speculation that the Sony-Kobo deal might extend the other way, with Sony OEM'ing new Kobo hardware. Not a terribly high probability but as they say... "it could happen".

Interesting, that does actually sound quite promising doesn't it?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by soulfuldog

Interesting, that does actually sound quite promising doesn't it?

Just speculation, really.
And if Sony, alone, couldn't make enough money to stay in the ereader business, why expect there would be enough money there for them *and* Kobo? For the tie-up to work Kobo would have to be a lot better at selling readers than Sony or willing to give up the hardware profits to Sony.

It is possible but unlikely.
We'll know in three mlnths, anyway...

[Rizla]

Cyer Sony. Your management sucked.