Rakuten starts selling Kobo e-book readers

TOKYO —

Rakuten subsidiary Kobo Inc began selling its new kobo glo eReader.

Priced at 7,980 yen, the kobo glo is an eReader that combines an E Ink Corporation display and front lighting, enabling comfortable reading under any lighting condition, whether in bright sunlight or a dimly lit bedroom. With its micro SD slot for memory expansion (up to 32 GB) and enhanced performance allowing for quick page turning, the kobo glo is perfect for reading high-capacity comic books. It is also optimized for displaying Japanese characters and utilizes high quality Japanese fonts developed by Morisawa Inc, creating the same reading experience as printed paper.

kobo glo is available through Rakuten’s online shopping mall, Rakuten Ichiba, as well as other leading electronics retailers, and Aeon of supermarket. To start the full scale beginning of eReader sales in book stores, Kobo Inc has also entered into an agreement to market its kobo Touch and kobo glo with TOP CULTURE Co, which operates 75 stores in Japan, especially areas of Shinetsu and Kanto. This provides consumers who come to shops for have yet to be exposed to eBooks and eReaders an opportunity to learn about this new approach to reading.

Kobo Inc. will run the Super Reading Festival , in order to further promote eReading. During this event, which targets all eBooks, customers can receive up to 10 times more Rakuten Super Points based on the amount of content they purchase from the Kobo eBookstore. Combined with bonuses given for purchases of certain eligible eBooks or eBooks from eligible publishers, customers can earn up to 20 times more Rakuten Super Points than normal.