It looks like Kobo has managed to get a step ahead of Amazon today. The Dutch e-reader blog eReaders.nl has reported that Kobo is now selling ebooks in their 6th language – Dutch.
Kobo has carried a few titles in Dutch since June of this year, but those were all free public domain ebooks that were provided by the Internet Archive. Now, for the first time, there are paid titles. According to my source Kobo is stocking titles from A.W. Bruna, Querido, and De Bezige Bij. (I cannot see the titles myself, so I don’t know.) They also report that Centraal Boekhuis will also soon be providing ebooks via their digital platform.
All I can see are the 24 freebies that Kobo, but I’m told that prices are averaging about 10% less than other ebookstores. Bloghelden by Frank Meeuwsen is selling at Kobo for just over € 14, while bol.com is carrying it for € 15.95. Het Schervengericht is listed for €10.50 on Kobo, while bol.com has it for €11,95.
There’s no word yet on the official launch, but if you like you can keep checking www.kobobooks.nl. That’s one of Kobo’s alternate sites, and when it starts showing Dutch menu options then you know the launch day is coming soon. There’s also a Dutch language option for the Kobo Touch, and the e-reader is available from Redcoon. Other retailers will be announcing shortly.
I’m also looking to find out if kobo signs a local ebookstore partner. They have a local partner in all of their major market except Germany, so it seems likely that they’ve already started negotiating a deal with a Dutch bookseller. Any ideas?
via eReaders.nl
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The Dutch language version of the Kobo Touch has been around for a few month. Dutch was one of the languages introduced in a firmware update, I think in August.
If you search for books in the Dutch language, you find only those 24 freebies. But if you search explicitly for the Dutch titles they are there.
Fixed. Thanks.
Oh, the original piece from ereaders.nl mentions that the ebooks are about 10% cheaper than the E-books at other Dutch online bookstores, not the P-books.
Fixed it, thanks.
Kobo Touch Available Soon in the Netherlands - The Digital Reader // Jan 24, 2012 at 10:00 am
[...] looks like Kobo’s expansion into the Dutch ebook market has firmed up a little in the past month; they’ve just announced a new retail partner for the Kobo [...]