Kobo eReaders get European Presence

Kobo, a global leader in eReading with over 4.7 million users worldwide, has announced that European online retailer redcoon (www.redcoon.de) will sell the company’s Kobo eReader Touch Edition beginning Oct. 1.  Priced at 149 €, the innovative Kobo eReader Touch Edition comes with a rich feature set, including Kobo’s industry-leading Reading Life social eReading experience, providing fun, awards and sharing through Facebook and Twitter. Kobo offers more than 80,000 German language titles and a total of 2.5 million eBooks, delivering the largest eBook store and localized selection to the German eReading community.  

Redcoon is one of the largest online retailers for consumer electronics in Europe, serving consumers in Germany as well Austria, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Denmark and France – in this market segment, the online retailer is seen as a major competitor to Amazon.com in Europe.

“The availability of the Kobo eReader Touch Edition through redcoon provides Kobo with wide online retail footprint to serve the millions of consumers who want to read on-the-go,” said Todd Humphrey, EVP, Business Development at Kobo.  “As of today, book lovers can find more than 80,000 German eBooks at Kobo, more selection than anywhere else, and that number continues to grow,” said Nina Kreutzfeldt, Director of Content Management EU, Kobo.  “The vast selection of German titles were very well-received by attendees at the IFA show.” 

For fans of English-language books, the Kobo eReader Touch Edition has German consumers covered.  “Kobo eReader Touch Edition comes with integrated English and German language dictionaries,” continued Kreutzfeldt, “which makes reading books from Kobo’s huge English catalogue even easier.”

The German store is managed by Kobo’s Germany-based team that also oversees EU business development, content and merchandising in Germany.  The team includes executives Kreutzfeldt and EU Director of Sales Thorsten Schröer, known for deep subject matter experience and connections within the European eReading community.  “The retail partnership with redcoon starts in Germany, but is going beyond this market,” Schröer explains.  “As Kobo expands to additional European countries later this year, redcoon will offer our products there as well.”  Additional leading retail partners will be announced shortly.