Kobo Brings the Joy of eReading to More than 12 Million People around the World, Millions of eReaders Sold in 2012

TORONTO, Jan. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Kobo Inc., a global leader in eReading, today announced that it has exceeded 2012 market forecasts, doubling device sales and attracting more than 4 million new customers within the last six months to bring its total to more than 12 million registered users. Contradicting forecasts claiming eReader sales would decline in 2012, Kobo's E Ink eReader sales were up nearly 150 percent in December, helping the company to carve out 20 percent of the global eReader market [source: DigiTimes]. In less than twelve months, the company launched three new eReading devices and further established its eReading services in new territories including Brazil, Portugal, Italy, Japan, Spain, South Africa, and the Netherlands this year. The annual growth and outstanding international performance culminated in Kobo users reading more than 22 million pages on Christmas Day. 

"In December we celebrated Kobo's third anniversary as well as the biggest month for the company yet," said Michael Serbinis, CEO, Kobo. "Millions of new users registered with Kobo in December alone, annual device sales soared with millions of Kobo eReaders bought, and eBook sales nearly doubled from the previous year. 2012 was truly outstanding for our company and our network of booksellers and retailers around the world."

THE WORLD IS READING DIGITALLY

The average Kobo customer bought more eBooks in 2012 – nearly 20 percent more per customer – than in 2011. With the availability of eBooks growing around the world, Kobo invested heavily to ensure that publishers and authors could take advantage of the growing opportunity to engage with fans around the world.

• 22 million pages were read with the company's open eReading platform.
• English was the most common language read, followed by French and Japanese.
• People in Canada read the most on Christmas Day – with an average of 200 pages each – while Americans read 160 pages and the British read 93 pages. 
• The most popular genre at Kobo is Romance. Canadians – perhaps as a result of their cold winters – top the charts as romantic fiction fans.
• Fifty Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games dominated 2012 as the most read eBooks and most read eBook series, while the most downloaded Christmas classic was Clement Moore's classic 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  

THE EREADING ECOSYSTEM IS THRIVING

In 2012, Kobo invested heavily to provide customers with a cross-platform eReading ecosystem that now includes three E Ink eReaders – the Kobo Touch, the Kobo Mini, and the Kobo Glo – and its new 7" Google-certified Android tablet, the Kobo Arc. At the same time, the company's free top-ranked eReading apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows attracted people to read on more tablets than ever during the holiday period.

"We are seeing tremendous international opportunity to bring eReading to new markets, and help transform the industry through technology innovation," said Wayne White, EVP and GM of Devices, Kobo. "The transition from print to digital, the evolution of devices, the application of technologies, and the market adoption of eReading around world is in its infancy. Kobo's trajectory of growth reinforces that people want to read more – and on a variety of devices."

AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS ARE JOINING KOBO

Kobo's commitment to delivering localized experiences for its customers begins with its efforts to attract and secure leading titles from local authors and publishers to deliver a truly unique experience for people around the world. Now offering more than 3.2 million titles across 68 languages Kobo's English catalogue doubled in 2012.

• Italian, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Afrikaans, German, Spanish, and Catalan grew by nearly 200,000 titles with continued growth as new titles become available.
• Kobo grew its Manga, comics, graphic novels, and illustrated non-fiction titles by 1900 percent in 2012.
• The company continues to work with leading publishers and authors to provide customers with the ability to pre-order 2013 titles such as Dan Brown's Inferno.  

Since the launch of its self-publishing platform Kobo Writing Life in July 2012, Kobo has signed up ten-thousand authors from 96 countries who have published more than 60,000 titles across 40 languages.

"Kobo's self-publishing program has engaged a wide variety of publishers and authors to quickly publish new and back-listed titles with Kobo," said Mark Lefebvre, Director Self-Publishing and Author Relations, Kobo. "We've designed Kobo Writing Life to put the power of publishing into an author's hand without impeding them with hidden fees. It's the most flexible platform available today and as a result, 98 percent of our authors publish works internationally."

Sylvia Day, author of the hugely successful Crossfire series that started with Bared to You, self-published her Christmas short story Wish List with Kobo Writing Life, which quickly rose to the top of Kobo's charts, outselling the #2 title from Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson by a ratio of 2:1. Top-selling Kobo Writing Life titles include:

• Wish List, Sylvia Day
• Legion, Brandon Sanderson
• For His Pleasure, Kelly Favour
• Run, Blake Crouch
• Wool, Hugh Howey
• The First Confessor, Terry Goodkind

A LOOK TO 2013

Kobo is committed to delivering the best consumer experience for people who love to read and its open platform will remain at the forefront of strategies in 2013. This year, Kobo will continue its quest to become the best eReading service in the world – look for Kobo to continue its global expansion through booksellers and retailers of all sizes, becoming active in Russia, India and China to name a few.  Innovative new E Ink and tablet eReaders will join the Kobo Family and the company will continue to work with publishers and authors to introduce a range of new content categories for consumers.

About Kobo Inc.

Kobo Inc. is one of the world's fastest-growing eReading services offering more than 3 million eBooks, magazines and newspapers. Believing that consumers should have the freedom to read any book on any device, Kobo has built an open-standards platform to provide consumers with a choice when reading. Inspired by a "Read Freely" philosophy and a passion for innovation, Kobo has expanded to 190 countries, where millions of consumers have access to localized eBook catalogues and award-winning eReaders, like the Kobo Touch. With top-ranked eReading applications for Apple, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows products, Kobo allows consumers to make eReading social through Facebook Timeline and Reading Life, an industry-first social experience that lets users earn awards for time spent reading and encourage others to join in. Headquartered in Toronto and owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten, Kobo eReaders can be found in major retail chains across the globe. For more information, visit www.kobo.com.

For more information, please contact:

Cerys Goodall    
Director, Public Relations   
[email protected]    
647-282-1181    

SOURCE Kobo Inc.