Kobo™ and Samsung Electronics Expand Relationship
Kobo eReading Service To Come Pre-loaded in the Readers Hub on the new Samsung GALAXY S II Mobile World Congress 2011
BARCELONA, Spain–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kobo, the only pure-play global eReading service, and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in mobile technology, announced that they have expanded their relationship to Samsung’s flagship smartphone. Today, Kobo is front and centre in the Samsung GALAXY Tab’s “Readers Hub” sold by many of the world’s largest mobile operators and electronic retailers on all continents. Now, Kobo will also come pre-loaded on the new Samsung GALAXY S II, launched at the MWC 2011.
The Kobo eReading application pre-loaded on the Samsung GALAXY Tab and Samsung GALAXY S II gives consumers all over the world an out-of-the-box eReading experience that includes access to Kobo’s catalog of more than 2.2 million eBooks, from today’s hottest new releases and New York Times® Bestsellers, to over one million free titles, ranging from 18th century romance novels to thrillers, to the most famous literary masterpieces.
“We’re excited to have expanded our partnership with Samsung and power eReading across two of Samsung’s premium devices,” said Michael Serbinis, CEO of Kobo. “Our vision is to bring an exceptional eReading experience to consumers around the world offering any book on any device. With its sleek style and beautiful crisp screen, the Samsung Galaxy S II is an ideal device for consumers to discover the joy of eReading on the go.”
Visit Samsung’s booth at the Mobile World Congress Show this week to see the Kobo eReading service demonstrated on both Samsung devices.
Kobo is committed to providing customers with choice and to that end supports open standards like ePUB and PDF, giving customers the freedom to get books from multiple sources including their local eLibrary. Like all Kobo applications, the Kobo application pre-loaded on Samsung devices will sync with any Kobo-enabled device, allowing customers to access their Kobo account for continuous reading across multiple platforms.
For more information please visit www.kobo.com.
About Kobo, Inc.
Kobo is a global eReading service backed by majority shareholder Indigo Books & Music, Borders Group, REDgroup Retail, and Cheung Kong Holdings. Kobo believes consumers should be able to read any book on any device. With a catalog of over two million eBooks, magazines, newspapers and an open platform, Kobo enables retailers, device manufacturers and mobile operators to bring the joy of eReading to customers everywhere. For more information, visit www.kobo.com.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2009 consolidated sales of US$116.8 billion. Employing approximately 188,000 people in 185 offices across 65 countries, the company consists of eight independently operated business units: Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, Digital Imaging, Semiconductor and LCD. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.
About Samsung Media Solutions Center (MSC)
Established in June 2008, the Media Solution Center (MSC) has served as a channel to deliver contents and services to all Samsung Electronics devices, thereby enhancing the devices’ capabilities. The consumer’s focus is changing from hardware technology and performance to value driven by content and services optimized for the device. To cope with this dynamic market environment, the Media Solution Center is driving the democratization of the content and service eco-system. Samsung is emphasizing its competency in differentiated content, open platforms, as well as the creation of content for a variety of service channels.