Walmart Teams Up With Kobo To Sell EBooks and Audiobooks (engadget.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: Later this year, you'll be able to buy ebooks and audiobooks straight from Walmart's website. The big box retailer has teamed up with Japanese e-commerce titan Rakuten to launch a business that can take on Amazon's Kindle offerings. Walmart will give its customers in the U.S. an easy way to access to Kobo's library -- Kobo is Rakuten's digital book division -- and its six million titles from tens of thousands of publishers. The company will also start selling Kobo eReaders, which will set you back at least $120, online and in stores sometime this year. Walmart said Kobo's titles will be fully integrated into its website, so the ebook and audiobook versions of the title you're searching for will appear alongside the listing of its physical book. However, you won't be able to access the digital files through random apps. You'll have to use the co-branded apps for iOS, Android and desktop that Walmart and Kobo will release in the future, though you'll of course be able access ebooks through a Kobo e-reader.

Comments

The prices are WAY less than that in the US

[davecb]

No way are they "at least $120"

Kobo is a customer of mine, and I have both a Touch and a top-line Aura one.

In 80-cent Canadian dollars the prices are:
Kobo Mini. $59.99
Kobo Touch. $99.99
Kobo Glo. $129.99
Kobo Glo HD. $129.99
Kobo Touch 2.0. $129.99
Kobo Aura. $149.99
Kobo Aura HD. $169.99
Kobo Aura H2O. $179.99

Expect cheaper in the 'States, and even cheaper at Wallmart.

Re:What are they thinking?

[bigfinger76]

Kobo isn't proprietary - it's compatible with all common ebook formats (unlike the Kindle).

I'm conflicted. The best paired with the worst.

[DaTrueDave]

Kobo arguably puts out the best eReaders that can handle the most common open source ebook format: EPUB.

WalMart is a cesspool.

I hope it's possible to take advantage of this venture without actually going into a WalMart.

Will their app be named appropriately?

[Optic7]

i.e. "Lead Balloon"? That about describes how well this is likely to go over.

I realized that the ebook market is completely locked into Amazon when I looked for certain ebooks and discovered that they are only available at Amazon, and not bn.com, for instance.

I presume that some authors/publishers (at least smaller ones) have determined that publishing on any other platform is just not worth the effort.

The only way this will change is with some antitrust action, or some other actual paradigm shift, not just the buzzword kind.

Re:Will their app be named appropriately?

[Kreela]

This move will change that lock-in to an extent. The reason many books are only available on Amazon is the Kindle Select exclusivity clause: independent authors can't list with other vendors if they want to take advantage of participation in Kindle Unlimited, better visibility in the Amazon store, and promotional opportunities like Countdown deals that non-exclusive authors can't use. So independent authors have the stark choice between selling better on Amazon but being exclusive, or selling widely but to a potentially much smaller market. However, by opening up Kobo to Walmart's large customer base, it could make it more attractive to authors to sell widely. Currently a lot of Canadians have Kobos, but their market share in the UK and especially the US is tiny.