Back in November Kobo announced that they would be sold to a Japanese company called Rakuten. Yesterday the acquisition was finalized: Kobo is now officially owned by Rakuten.

While this may sound like bad news for Kobo, it should actually end up helping them. Rakuten is a very successful e-commerce company and Kobo will continue to operate out of its Toronto headquarters with the same management team.

Filed under: Kobo, Sales and Discounts | Tags: ebook sales | 2 Comments »

It’s been a busy week of updates for Kobo. They issued firmware updates for the Kobo Vox, Kobo Touch, and their desktop software too.

Kobo is one of those companies that continues to build on their products after release. This is at least the 6th update for the Kobo Touch, with each one adding some shiny new features, and about the third update for the Kobo Vox.

Filed under: Kobo | Tags: firmware update, kobo touch, kobo vox | 3 Comments »

Wow, the deals just keep rolling in. Today I found the Kobo Touch listed on HSN for $99, and it even comes with a $25 gift card for purchasing ebooks from Kobo.com. It’s the regular Kobo too, not the ad-supported one.

The deal is listed as an “Event Price”, and doesn’t specify how long it lasts. The Kobo Touch normally sells for $129, so that’s $30 off the retail price plus you get $25 worth of ebooks. Not bad. HSN also offers the option of three payments of $33.

Filed under: Kobo, Sales and Discounts | Tags: kobo touch | 6 Comments »

Kobo is running a sale on the Kobo Wi-Fi while supplies last. It is refurbished and is selling for $39.99 with free shipping from Kobobooks.com.

The regular price is $89 so that is a considerable discount. In fact I think it’s the lowest priced E Ink ereader I’ve ever seen. $40? That’s crazy. Even if it is refurbished.

Filed under: Kobo, Sales and Discounts | Tags: ebook sales, kobo wifi | 3 Comments »

I just stumbled across a new color ereader and media player at Sears, the Slick 50. At $49 it is one of the least expensive 7″ color ereaders available. It doesn’t have any bells or whistles and looks about as cheap as the price would suggest, but the two reviews are positive, if they are real.

The best thing going for the Slick 50 is that it ties in with Kobo for ebooks, which means it supports Adobe DRM’d ebooks and library ebooks, not just DRM-free ebooks as is often the case with cheap ereaders.

Filed under: Kobo, New eBook Readers | Tags: slick 50 | 22 Comments »

Kobo Books is having a big Cyber Monday ebook sale today, offering four different sets of coupon codes each valid for a specific list of ebooks.

Here is the link to the Cyber Monday sale page at Kobo with the different codes and lists and disclaimers. Basically, it goes like this…

Filed under: Kobo, Sales and Discounts | Tags: ebook sales | 4 Comments »

Here’s the link to the first installment of the Kobo Vox review.

My Kobo Vox finally arrived at the end of last week. It had some major issues when it showed up that would have caused most people to return it or exchange it, but I’m used to troubleshooting Android devices so after triggering a factory reset with 6 failed boot attempts it was good as new.

Aside from a few minor bugs, it has been working well since then, and I even had enough time to test it and put together this Kobo Vox review part 1 before the Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch arrived yesterday. With all these devices arriving at the same time, including the Nook Tablet, I’ve decided to do the reviews in chunks, so expect more Kobo Vox reviews and comparisons in the coming days and weeks.

Filed under: Kobo, Reviews | Tags: kobo vox | 2 Comments »

Kobo has taken a page from Amazon by jumping on the ad-supported ereader bandwagon. That’s right. Kobo just quietly introduced the Kobo Touch with Offers for $99. That’s $30 off the regular price.

Like the Kindle with Special Offers, the Kobo Touch with Offers features advertisements on the screensavers when the device is turned off or in sleep mode. It also has an ad the bottom of the device’s homescreen. There aren’t any ads in ebooks.

Filed under: Kobo, New eBook Readers, Sales and Discounts | Tags: kobo touch | No Comments »

I came across this new ereader today, the Ematic eGlide Reader Pro. It’s listed on various retail websites. Walmart has it for the cheapest at $109.

As you can see from the picture, the Ematic eGlide Reader Pro is one strange-looking device. I’ve never seen an ereader with a keyboard below the screen on its side like that. It’s also got a little kickstand on the back to prop it up. Ematic is always good for a laugh. Remember the Ematic Twig?

Filed under: Kobo, New eBook Readers | Tags: ematic | 1 Comment »

The three largest ebook companies all have shiny new color ereaders that double as tablets ready just in time for the holiday season, with all of them trying to duplicate the success of the Nook Color from last year. Comparing the specs of the Nook Tablet versus the Kindle Fire and Kobo Vox reveals all three are very similar devices.

They all run Android and have the same size screen and share the same general characteristics for reading ebooks, watching videos, listening to music, browsing the web, email, and plenty more.

Filed under: Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Reviews | Tags: kindle fire, kobo vox, nook tablet | 18 Comments »