Apps: Kobo Reading Life social app now out for iOS devices

Kobo's Reading Life is the industry’s first-ever global social eReading experience and is now available to both iPad and iPhone users. Reading Life allows users to dive deeper into their reading experience. They can learn about their reading habits from the Reading Life dashboard, achieve reading milestones and targets, unlock dozens of achievement-based badges, and check in with characters and places they encounter in special enhanced ebooks.

These experiences, and favourite quotes and passages can all be shared with friends on their Facebook wall - plus users can share their favorite quotes as their status.

Since its December 9, 2010 launch on the iPad, Kobo has awarded more than 750,000 Reading Life awards, demonstrating the engagement power of Reading Life. Reading Life users read nearly double the pages of a non-Reading Life user. Now readers can engage with Kobo Reading Life not just on their iPad but on their iPhone.

Kobo Reading Life for the iPhone provides an unparalleled experience that enables users to immerse themselves in their reading experience in new and exciting ways, including:

 Connecting and sharing with Facebook friends

 Discovering and sharing favorite books and passages, characters and places

 Earning rewards based on statistics and sharing them with friends

 Tracking personal reading history and discovering reading patterns.

 Enjoying a personalized ―book cover‖ mosaic, featuring awards, books read and progress made

Kobo is the only service driving innovation in consumers’ eReading experience and we are excited to see our social eReading experience Reading Life get into so many consumers’ hands thanks to the iPhone’s record-breaking popularity,‖ said Mike Serbinis, Kobo CEO. ―Consumers’ eReading experience is evolving into a live ecosystem of interactivity, not only between them and their friends, but also between them and their personal lifetime libraries. Reading and sharing content via the iPhone’s Reading Life application creates new avenues for exploration and innovation for readers, and is only available through Kobo.

Kobo has customers in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The Kobo store offers more than 2.2 million eBooks, from the NYT bestseller list, the hottest new releases, thrillers, romance and more– plus Kobo offers over a million free titles for people that want to try before they buy, and the Kobo Newsstand has a selection of the most popular newspapers and magazines with new editions downloaded with just a click. Since its launch in 2009, Kobo has been dedicated to an open cloud-based platform, enabling users to read on any device, and with open standards that give users freedom to build their lifetime libraries as they choose. Also new with this release, users can now sync their awards – along with their bookmarks and library to their Kobo account. 

Kobo users can download free eReading applications at www.kobo.com for most smartphones, netbooks, tablets, desktops and macs. Kobo also supports a wide range of dedicated eReaders like the Sony eReader and Nook, and has partnered with device OEMs like Samsung and RIM. The popular Kobo Wireless eReader, the eReader for everyone, is available in stores around the world such as Walmart, Indigo Books & Music, Borders, Angus & Robertson, Whitcoulls, and Swindon.

The new Kobo eReading iPhone app is now available for free download from www.kobo.com or the iTunes App Store. Customers who download the new app or update their current app to the new version will automatically have access to Kobo Reading Life.