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Bitlit, an app that allows you to take your physical book collection and convert it to digital, has completed their seed round today. They've declined to say how big the round was, but among the investors is Michael Serbinis, who's had plenty of reading tech experience as founder and former CEO of eReader company Kobo.
To convert a book with Bitlit, you verify ownership by taking two pictures: one of the book's cover, and the other with your name written on the copyright page of the book.
Canadians will have to wait longer for cheaper e-books, as a move by the Competition Bureau aimed at reducing the prices of the digital reading material has been postponed due to a challenge by Kobo Inc.
The deal struck by the bureau and four major e-book publishers to remove restrictions on retailer discounting was signed on Feb. 7 and due to take effect on Wednesday.
Canadian ebook company Kobo, which was acquired by Japanese retail giant Rakuten in 2011, is replacing its founder and CEO Michael Serbinis with a Japanese executive, the company announced Tuesday. Takahito "Taka" Aiki, who was the CEO of Rakuten's telecom company Fusion Communications, steps into the new role effective immediately, while Serbinis remains involved with the company as vice chairman.
According to Kobo's announcement, Aiki "was responsible for the online business of Japan's top bookstore and video rental company Tsutaya, where he helped grow its online membership by 250% in only two years"As reported in today’s Morning Links, numerous sources are reporting that Michael Serbinis, who has been with Kobo since the beginning, is being replaced by a Rakuten veteran named Takahito Aiki, who was recently head of a Telecom and will be relocating to Canada to assume the post. Serbinis will remain on board as vice-chairman [...]
The post Serbinis to be Replaced at Kobo appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.
The Aura HD is a great bit of hardware, but that's not where the battle of ereaders is being fought.
Kobo is in town for the London Book Fair, and used the opportunity to launch its new ereader. The tech itself is fancy: described by the company as being designed from the ground up for "passionate" readers, it's got an ultra-high resolution screen (slightly sharper than an iPad 4's, though at that stage, who's counting?), sharp industrial design, and a speedy processor that makes it feel faster than any e-ink reader I've used.
Kobo, Inc., a global powerhouse in eReading with over 10 million users in 190 countries, and Aquafadas a leading digital publishing technology company, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Kobo intends to acquire Aquafadas.
