TOKYO, November 15, 2012 - Rakuten subsidiary Kobo Inc. will begin shipping its new kobo glo eReader today.
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., Ltd., 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.
In addition, Kobo Inc. will run the Super Reading Festival from Thursday, November 22 (a day prior to a three-day weekend in Japan) to Friday, November 30 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. For further details, please see the outline of the Super Reading Festival below.
Kobo Inc. has been a pioneer in the Japanese eBook market since the launch of its services in Japan. Going forward, the company will continue efforts to provide an even better reading experience and help everyone to experience the joy of reading.
■ Product Outline
●Product name: kobo glo
●Start of sales: November 15, 2012 (Pre-orders from November 1, 2012)
●Price: 7,980 yen (tax included)
●Available colors: Black Night, Pink Sunset, Blue Moon, Silver Star
●Features:
・ 6" touch screen
・ Memory expandable with micro SD card; capable of holding approximately 600 to 1,500 comic books or 30,000 eBooks (Note 1)
・ Display by E Ink Corporation, enabling comfortable reading even under direct sunlight
・ Front lighting allows for reading in the dark
・ High quality Morisawa Inc. Japanese fonts
・ Optimized layout for display of Japanese characters
・ Thickness: 10 mm; weight: 185 g
・ Battery lasts one month per charge cycle (Note 2)
Note 1: Theoretical values calculated based on regular text-based books with a file size of 1 MB each, and comic books with a file size 20 to 50 MB each.
Note 2: Calculated value based on a new product that is fully charged, with the refresh rate set at 6 pages, light on, Wi-Fi off, and reading 30 pages per day. Actual battery life depends on the user environment and device settings. The actual battery life differs depending on the specification environment and condition of the device.
■ kobo glo Available at :
●Rakuten
Launched on Rakuten Ichiba (Rakuten 24, Rakuten Books)
https://kobo.rakuten.co.jp/
●Electronics Retailers
・Bic Camera
・Sofmap
・Kojima
・Joshin
・Edion
・PC DEPOT
・Ks Denki
●Supermarket
・Aeon
●Bookstores
・Tstaya Shoten: Available from November 16, 2012 (9 stores)
Nigata Chuo Inter, Nagaoka Koshouji, Nagano Kawanakajima,Frespo Fuchu, Maebashi Minami Mall, Foleo Shoubu, Kohoku Minamo, Hitachinaka (planning to open on 17th Nov.) and Niigata Bandai (planning to open early in Dec.) branches
・TSUTAYA: Available from November 20, 2012
Sangenchaya TSUTAYA EBISUBASHI, Hirakata Ekimae, Fukuokatenjin and several branches
※Electronics Retailers and supermarket will offer from November 15, 2012
※For details of availability stores and date, please contact each retail
■ Super Reading Festival Outline
●Summary:
Buyers can receive up to 10 times the Rakuten Super Points, based on the amount of content purchased from the Kobo eBookstore. This applies to all eBooks. In addition, up to 20 times more Rakuten Super Points will be given to purchases of certain eligible eBooks or eBooks from eligible publishers.
●Bonus:
・The Rakuten Super Points bonus given for each purchase will be calculated based on the amount of content purchased. For example, the purchase of one eBook will result in a 1% bonus, and the purchase of two eBooks will result in a 2% bonus (two times the regular bonus), up to a maximum of 10 eBooks (10 times the regular bonus).
・Five times the regular Rakuten Super Points bonus will be given to purchases of specially selected eBooks.
・An additional bonus five times the Rakuten Super Points bonus will be given to purchases of content from publishers providing specially selected eBooks.
・A bonus of up to 20 times the regular Rakuten Super Points bonus can be earned by combining the above special offers.
●Period: Thursday, November 22 to Friday, November 30