Kobo e-reader reveals it has 2.7 million users

PeterT · 03-08-2011, 02:48 PM

http://www.thestar.com/business/arti...-million-users

Quote:

E-reader maker Kobo Inc. says it has secured new financing to help fund international expansion and that it has 2.7 million users worldwide.

The company, majority owned by Toronto's Indigo Books & Music Inc.,, now has a catalogue of 2.3 million eBooks in more than 100 countries.

It says the pace of its expansion has accelerated — taking 10 months to reach one million users and less than three months to grow to two million.

The financing was led by Fidelity Investments with secondary investments from Indigo and Cheung Kong holdings.

The company says it plans to use the cash to expand internationally with new partners, content and languages.

Indigo owns 59 per cent of Kobo, a former subsidiary that was spun off to compete against Amazon's Kindle and a multitude of other companies.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly reported that Kobo sold 2.3 million eBooks, but instead it has 2.3 million books in its catalogue.

jbcohen · 03-08-2011, 03:47 PM

Great there is nothing better then a Kobo for simplicity.

Fayth · 03-08-2011, 04:20 PM

Gonna be 1 less if they don't get The Crippled God available on their canadian web site soon....

Its 12 days behind amazon now, and I don't mean american amazon, I mean Amazon has had it available to Canadians for 12 days now.

altworld · 03-08-2011, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fayth

Gonna be 1 less if they don't get The Crippled God available on their canadian web site soon....

Its 12 days behind amazon now, and I don't mean american amazon, I mean Amazon has had it available to Canadians for 12 days now.

Have you tried looking over at the B&N website? Both the Nook and Kobo run ePubs so you should be able to swap files between the two. Unless of course the file is DRM'ed
Arigato,
Nick Davis

Fayth · 03-08-2011, 05:12 PM

I have a gift card for kobo, otherwise I would've just bought the Amazon one and then just stripped DRM and converted it. Kobo told me they would forward my request blah blah, but that they couldn't have any guarantees or whatever. Its stupid. If Amazon can sell it to Canadians why can't they?

Dulin's Books · 03-08-2011, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fayth

Gonna be 1 less if they don't get The Crippled God available on their canadian web site soon....

.

don't you have anything else to read while you wait?

SensualPoet · 03-08-2011, 05:41 PM

Successfully raising further investment confirms again that Kobo has momentum in this market and continues to focus on a global audience, not just a regional one. Kudos to Kobo!

sabredog · 03-08-2011, 06:20 PM

With the major issues with Borders an A&R here in Australia, I wonder if Kobo are fishing around for new distributors?

Dulin's Books · 03-08-2011, 06:38 PM

actually- are you sure the ebook is available in Kindle format in Canada? i was trying to find out but it seems the physical book isnt even out yet in Canada...

Fayth · 03-08-2011, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

don't you have anything else to read while you wait?

Yes, The Wise Man's Fear, which was up on day 1. I finished that though. I have others, but I want to read the conclusion to The Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

actually- are you sure the ebook is available in Kindle format in Canada? i was trying to find out but it seems the physical book isnt even out yet in Canada...

100% positive. Canadians order through amazon.com but its region specific. Transworld Digital publishes the canadian ebook, a publisher called Ingram is publishing the physical in Canada and they got delayed somehow.

Dulin's Books · 03-08-2011, 07:32 PM

yeah i figured how to change amazon so i could look. seems like a publishing issue when i was looking about- I thought I had seen Bantam was the publisher for Canada not Ingram?

tubemonkey · 03-08-2011, 08:49 PM

How many of the 2.7 million users are actual Kobo device owners as opposed to Kobo app users?

ATDrake · 03-08-2011, 09:30 PM

Good for Kobo! They really do have the most customer-friendly store out of all the majors, in terms of pricing with their frequent discount coupons and whatnot, even if the actual shopping experience is sometimes marred by annoying CS issues which their people take forever to get to and seem to read their replies off a script rather than going by your question.

But nice to see that they're doing well. Probably only a small-ish percentage of that overall number is for actual Kobo device owners, but if even a 10th of the app-only users have bought even 1 e-book from the store, that's contributed to the continued profitability of Kobo's operation.

GA Russell · 03-08-2011, 10:19 PM

Anybody else think it's noteworthy that their user base is larger than their catalogue?

Fayth · 03-08-2011, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

yeah i figured how to change amazon so i could look. seems like a publishing issue when i was looking about- I thought I had seen Bantam was the publisher for Canada not Ingram?

Dunno. Called Tor about it mid February, they told me to call Ingram. Ingram said they are only publishing the physical books.

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03-08-2011, 03:47 PM	#2
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,025 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Piper College Device: Samsung A21	Great there is nothing better then a Kobo for simplicity.

03-08-2011, 04:20 PM	#3
Fayth Zealot Posts: 134 Karma: 1337 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Sony PRS 350	Gonna be 1 less if they don't get The Crippled God available on their canadian web site soon.... Its 12 days behind amazon now, and I don't mean american amazon, I mean Amazon has had it available to Canadians for 12 days now.

03-08-2011, 05:12 PM	#5
Fayth Zealot Posts: 134 Karma: 1337 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Sony PRS 350	I have a gift card for kobo, otherwise I would've just bought the Amazon one and then just stripped DRM and converted it. Kobo told me they would forward my request blah blah, but that they couldn't have any guarantees or whatever. Its stupid. If Amazon can sell it to Canadians why can't they?

03-08-2011, 05:41 PM	#7
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	Successfully raising further investment confirms again that Kobo has momentum in this market and continues to focus on a global audience, not just a regional one. Kudos to Kobo!

03-08-2011, 06:20 PM	#8
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	With the major issues with Borders an A&R here in Australia, I wonder if Kobo are fishing around for new distributors?

03-08-2011, 06:38 PM	#9
Dulin's Books Wizard Posts: 2,806 Karma: 13500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Portland, OR Device: Boox PB360 etc etc etc	actually- are you sure the ebook is available in Kindle format in Canada? i was trying to find out but it seems the physical book isnt even out yet in Canada...

03-08-2011, 07:32 PM	#11
Dulin's Books Wizard Posts: 2,806 Karma: 13500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Portland, OR Device: Boox PB360 etc etc etc	yeah i figured how to change amazon so i could look. seems like a publishing issue when i was looking about- I thought I had seen Bantam was the publisher for Canada not Ingram?

03-08-2011, 08:49 PM	#12
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,477 Karma: 158151390 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	How many of the 2.7 million users are actual Kobo device owners as opposed to Kobo app users?

03-08-2011, 09:30 PM	#13
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Good for Kobo! They really do have the most customer-friendly store out of all the majors, in terms of pricing with their frequent discount coupons and whatnot, even if the actual shopping experience is sometimes marred by annoying CS issues which their people take forever to get to and seem to read their replies off a script rather than going by your question. But nice to see that they're doing well. Probably only a small-ish percentage of that overall number is for actual Kobo device owners, but if even a 10th of the app-only users have bought even 1 e-book from the store, that's contributed to the continued profitability of Kobo's operation.

03-08-2011, 10:19 PM	#14
GA Russell Montreal wins Grey Cup! Posts: 7,583 Karma: 31484197 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Device: Paperwhite, Kindles 10 & 4 and jetBook Lite	Anybody else think it's noteworthy that their user base is larger than their catalogue?

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