Honestly, I think it is a bad news.
Yes, it might be good news for Rakuten, I really believe that the kobo like of product is great; I had the opportunities to try the latest kobo touch and it was amazingly crisp and fast. The kobo apps on my iPad is my Book reader of choice and that is also but my books from kobo because it gives me the ability to read my book from my phone, ereader, ipad etc. If I where to buy from Apple I would be locked down to read them on an apple product and not even one of theirs computers.
o.k. by to the main topic, like I said Kobo is a great product, and for a “paper” book seller like indigo I was applauding the initiative, it’s clear that book stores have to evolve or they might end like Boarders in the u.s.a., so selling its stake in Kobo sound a bit weird to me, I feel it’s like selling theirs future. Yes, it will bring fresh money in the bank account in the short term, but what is there in the long run?
I guess only the future knows but I would find it sad if the publishing world only dominated by Amazon, Apple and maybe Google.
Here’s the Montreal Gazette article :
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kobo+acquired+Japanese+firm+million/5677078/story.html)