Canada's Kobo talks local to launch e-readers in India

If you thought the e-reader market had been killed by the tablet, you may have been wrong. Months after the launch of Amazon's Kindle devices in India, Canadian e-reading giant Kobo entered the market on Thursday with its platform, and four devices.

Kobo is banking on its strong tie-ups with local partners like Croma, Crossword and WHSmith as well as publishers to bring a localised experience to Indian readers.

"We have a leading share in 10 out of the 15 markets we have been in. One of the keys to our success is our ability to partner with leading local brands and leverage that with our additional marketing," Executive Vice-President and General Manager Wayne White told Business Today.

The Kobo platform will offer readers access to four million books, periodical and newspapers, which will be curated for a local readership. There are no Indian language titles on offer at the moment, though. Country Director Haja Sherif said they did not want to force feed global offerings to India and will give the reader a unified experience across all devices and platforms.

While e-readers have been around for a few years now, most of the smaller players have pulled out of the race in the last couple of years. Globally, the top three players are Amazon with its Kindle, Barnes & Noble with Nook, and Kobo. All three are fighting for a share of what is expected to be a $10.6 billion market by 2016. Already about a quarter of fiction books in the US are bought on e-readers.

Chief Content Officer Michael Tamblyn said Kobo's challenge was not a technical or a software challenge, but a challenge of the bookseller. "What makes people come back to us is our ability to give them the next great book, the next great author... our ability to surprise them. That is also our goal."

Kobo features 11,000 publishers and 1.3 million authors. Of this as many as 21,000 are independent authors.

The four devices launched on Thursday range from the entry-level Kobo Touch at a special price of Rs 6,999 to the premium 6.8-inch Kobo Aura HD at Rs 13,999. The company also has a backlit Kobo Glo e-reader at Rs 10,999 and a 7-inch Android tablet, the Kobo Arc, at a special price of Rs 9,999. However, all these devices are Wi-Fi only. White said they would introduce connected versions depending on local demand.

Depending on the level of integration, a physical book will packaged with a digital book or vice-versa, said White. "We know that a lot of people will still want to buy the book as a trophy."