TOKYO, November 26, 2013 - Kobo Inc., a subsidiary of Rakuten, Inc., will launch the new Kobo Arc 7HD tablet in Japan. Pre-orders for Kobo Arc 7HD open today (https://kobo.rakuten.co.jp/tablets/koboarc7hd/ ) and will ship in late December for 22,800 yen (incl. tax) for the 16GB model, and 27, 800 yen (incl. tax) for the 32GB model.
The Kobo Arc 7HD tablet has been rolled out starting August 28, 2013 in North America and Europe to win high praise from users. It is being launched as part of a multiplatform strategy to address a wider range of customer requirements, and the growing market for tablets.
The Kobo Arc 7HD tablet is powered by the NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 1.7GHz quad-core processor, and its high resolution multi-touch display produces superb interactivity. In addition, the “Reading mode” is a power-saving setting that will allow the user to focus on text. The tablet is equipped with the Android 4.2™ OS and Google Play™, which enables free downloading of apps. As a Rakuten special offer, the tablet comes pre-installed with the “Rakuten gateway” Android app, that provides quick access to Rakuten Group services.
Kobo’s multi-device strategy saw it launch its e-book service in Japan on July 19, 2012, which provides Android and iOS Rakuten Kobo apps free of charge not only for Kobo e-readers, but to any of its customers’ devices. Offering the new open-platform Kobo Arc 7HD Android tablet today will bring the joy of reading to more people than ever.
Pre-orders for the Kobo Arc 7HD have opened on the Rakuten Ichiba website and in some electronics stores, and the tablet will be available for purchase from late December. To celebrate the launch of pre-orders today, we are starting a limited time offer to all customers completing our tablet survey of a 3,000 yen RaCoupon upon purchase of the Kobo Arc 7HD. All customers who log in for the first time on their Kobo Arc 7HD with their Rakuten member ID by March 19, 2014 will receive 2% Rakuten Super Points for all purchases on Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten Books, and Rakuten Kobo for one year. This is double the usual 1% points on purchases (up to a limit of 30,000 yen of shopping per month).
Kobo aims to provide a more convenient and pleasant reading experience for readers by harnessing its group synergies with Rakuten to offer new services and more features.
Details of the new tablet are as follows.