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Kobo Opens Local eBookstore in Portugal

It looks like I was right once again last week when I reported that Kobo and Fnac would form a new partnership to sell ebooks in Portugal. Kobo has just confirmed the news on their blog.

Fnac is going to carry Kobo eReaders on fnac.pt as well as in all 17 of Fnac’s stores in Portugal. In fact, you can already find the Kobo Touch listed on the website right now, priced at €99.90. While there’s no news yet on when Fnac will get to carry Kobo’s newer ereaders, the announcement does mention that Fnac will also be selling Kobo ebooks in Portugal

The selection of 3 million plus ebook titles went live on fnac.pt today, and it includes titles in Portuguese including  works from José Saramago, Memorial do Convento and João Ricardo Pedro, O Teu Rosto Será o Último.

Fnac is also Kobo’s partner in France, a deal which was signed in October 2011.  This retailer operates in quite a few European countries, so it seems likely that we might see this deal expanded to include other nations. Span, for example, would be an excellent next step.

Fnac already has 20 stores there as well as an ebookstore. That was launched last November, and while I don’t know how much success they’ve had I suspect that Fnac’s Spanish ebookstore is doing about as well as their ebook operation in France – the one which was replaced with Kobo last October.

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Comments


User September 24, 2012 um 2:25 pm

Fnac is absolutely huge around here. They typically have big shops in the best corners of the best shopping areas, they’re a well established brand, and they already sell lots of media (and gadgets). They just have failed to create an ebook system that works, but actually Amazon is the only one that has managed to unite devices and content. So, not really a great fault on Fnac’s side.

I have no idea what their Spanish financials are, but certainly Fnac is far more important than the number of stores may suggest.

Btw, if you want an update on the Spanish ebook market, the Kindle has swept all other devices. It’s been on the market less than a year and it already outnumbers the others combined. Okay, I don’t have hard numbers to back this up, but certainly the Kindle is the one that you see the most in the wild (by far), and it’s the only one that non-geek people seem to know about. If Kobo wants to have a chance, they better launch before the holidays.

cookie September 24, 2012 um 2:37 pm

Who is sweeping the Portuguese market in Portugal?


Kobo à l’assaut du Portugal September 25, 2012 um 4:07 am

[…] Source : The Digital Reader. […]


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