Kobo Expands eReader Family - Announces the New Kobo Vox with Vivid Color Display - The World's First Social eReader

Kobo, a global leader in eReading with over 5 million users worldwide, today announced the New Kobo Vox eReader, the world’s first social eReader. The Kobo Vox, named from the Latin “Vox Populi” meaning the voice of the people, enables readers to start conversations with other readers and discover new books and authors through their social network. With a vivid color display, Kobo takes the reading experience to a whole new level and offers even more content – rich color books, newspapers, magazines, games, music, video, games and social feeds – all on an open Android platform.

“Kobo Vox is the reader for your connected life, and opens the door to the next generation of eReading – social eReading – where books can come alive in color and conversation. Readers can get more out of their experience by connecting with Kobo’s global community of booklovers.” said Michael Serbinis, CEO, Kobo. “Plus, with Kobo Vox you have the freedom to connect with friends, listen to music, watch movies, play games and discover new apps with almost unlimited choices.”

A WORLD CLASS READING EXPERIENCE

Based on Kobo’s #1 Ranked Android eReading experience, Kobo Vox was built by readers for readers. Readers can access their entire library on the go, in an easy to hold, lightweight design with a comfortable quilted back. The Kobo Vox comes in a selection of four contemporary, fun, new colors – Hot Pink, Lime Green, Ice Blue and Jet Black, giving readers a choice of options to reflect their personal style. Kobo Vox delivers a superior user experience that allows users to easily navigate their library, scroll through books, turn pages with a tap or swipe, and personalize their reading experience with highlights, annotations, 42 adjustable font sizes and more. The Kobo Vox has onboard storage for up to 8,000 eBooks, with expandable storage to hold up to 40,000 books, and access to unlimited storage in the Kobo cloud. With Kobo, you can read continuously across devices with free top rated Kobo apps available for most popular smartphones, tablets and computers. Developed on Android 2.3, readers have the freedom to customize their experience to best suit their personal needs and preferences.

CAPTURING THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Building on the industry leading social platform, Reading Life, users can now choose to connect with friends or create book clubs and discuss their favorite reads on Facebook, track their reading statistics, and unlock fun and exciting awards just for reading. The recent innovation of Kobo Pulse™ takes social reading to a new level – readers can literally see the pulse of a book page by page. Pulse provides a visual reflection of the amount of user commentary and sharing on each page of every book. The people’s voice (vox populi) is woven through the reading experience in a way readers have never experienced before. Readers can leave reviews, start conversations, and share comments and thoughts in real-time with others who are reading the same book, all within the book itself. Kobo Pulse provides the ultimate source for book recommendations, as the suggestions come from friends and ‘like’ minded readers whose opinions and interests are similar and trusted. Now, “The End” is no longer the end.

Facebook recognized the power of Reading Life and Pulse and selected Kobo as the only eReading partner at their recent f8 conference. Kobo is the first eReading platform to be integrated with Facebook Ticker and Timeline to enable further reading discovery and entertainment.

THE MOST ADVANCED MULTIMEDIA TOUCHSCREEN

Featuring a brilliant multimedia touchscreen, readers can experience text with high contrast and immerse themselves in books, magazines, games and videos in vivid color. When designing the device, Kobo had an eye on the need for great reading outdoors (and indoors) and selected the most advanced 7 inch AFFS+ display – the same technology used in airplane cockpits (there are no clouds at 30,000 feet). In addition to its excellent performance outdoors in bright sunlight, this display also features an extra-wide viewing angle, ideal for shared reading and viewing.

NOW READ IN VIVID COLOR

Kobo’s global ebookstore – 2.5 million books and over 1 million free – just got better with new color and enhanced multimedia content. Discover a new world of reading with rich color content for all ages, including cookbooks, engaging travel guides, comic books, and graphic novels. Parents and children can read together with Read Along children’s books, a great way to spend quality time and a fun way to help children learn to read. The Vox eReader includes three free color books, so people can start building their color library right away; there is a selection of dessert recipes for the chef-in-training in Sweet Dreams, Lonely Planet’s Europe Essentials for the avid traveler and Franklin and the Thunderstorm for young readers.

EXPERIENCE MORE – THE EREADER FOR YOUR CONNECTED LIFE

In addition to reading, Kobo Vox users can easily browse the Web, check email, listen to music, watch movies, play games and store personal photos. Choose from a selection of pre-loaded top ranked entertainment apps:

• Magazines from Zinio® – plus 12 FREE popular magazines for Kobo Vox owners
• Newspapers from PressReader™ – over 1,900 full newspapers from around the world – and a gift of 7 newspapers of your choice!
• Massive selection of music from RDIO® – with a 7 day free trial
• Get social with Twitter® & Facebook®
• Book lover must-have: Merriam Webster’s Dictionary
• Games like Cut the Rope®
• Apps – over 15,000 FREE apps
• Kobo and Facebook widgets that sit right on the home screen
• Access to more music and video services in the app store

FREEDOM OF CHOICE

At Kobo, we believe people should have the ability to read on any device. Readers can download free Kobo eReading apps to read across the most popular devices including desktops, laptops, tablets, Android™ phones, iPhones®, iPads®, Blackberry® Smartphones and PlayBooks. Readers can also download their ebooks and read on a wide range of dedicated eReaders.

Consistent with our open philosophy, Kobo Vox offers full access to Android 2.3, and includes an open app store with over 15,000 FREE apps for Android. With ultra-fast web browsing, Vox users will have the latest news, weather, and Hollywood gossip at their fingertips. Plus, Vox’s full-featured email client supports POP, IMAP and Microsoft® ActiveSync so users can get their personal email like Yahoo and Gmail and work email too!

AMAZING LOW PRICE OF $199.99, AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER STARTING TODAY

The Kobo Vox will begin rolling out internationally today, starting with the US and Canada.

In Canada, Kobo Vox is available for pre-order online at leading Kobo retail partners:
Indigo Books & Music (www.indigo.ca), Future Shop (www.futureshop.ca), Best Buy (www.bestbuy.ca), and Kobo.com for a MSRP of $199.99

In the U.S., the Kobo Vox is available for pre-order at Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com), Fry’s Electronics (www.frys.com), and at Kobo.com for a MSRP of $199.99.

For more information on Kobo and the new Kobo Vox eReader visit www.Kobo.com

About Kobo, Inc.
Kobo is a global eReading service with more than 2.5 million eBooks, magazines and newspapers – one of the largest eReading catalogues in the world. Read Freely – Kobo believes consumers should have the freedom to read any book on any device and has attracted millions of readers from over 100 countries across the globe. Kobo has top ranked eReading applications for iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows and MacOS, and is the eReading application of choice for leading tablet OEMs. Kobo eReaders are available at leading retailers, including Indigo, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Future Shop, WHSmith, Collins Booksellers and Whitcoull’s. Kobo’s innovative Reading Life is an industry-first comprehensive social eReading experience – Kobo users can earn awards simply for time spent reading and encouraging others. Kobo is backed by majority shareholder Indigo Books & Music Inc., Cheung Kong Holdings, and institutional investors.