Kobo CEO Says Not Selling Washing Machines Key To Overtaking Amazon 207
DavidGilbert99 writes "Kobo, the Canadian-based ebook company is number two in the market, behind the behemoth that is Amazon. So what does the CEO Michael Serbinis think is the one thing which will allow them to overtake the e-commerce giant? 'We don't sell any washing machines, we don't sell radios. We are not focused on the next server farm to offer data services. It is a question of focus.' Serbinis goes on to tell IBTimes UK: 'From an organization standpoint at Kobo, this is all we do. Everyone at Kobo, all we focus on is creating a great experience for book-lovers.'"
Focus all you want... (Score:1, Insightful)
Doesn't mean you'll be the best at it.
No Android App (Score:2, Insightful)
Except its a lie. (Score:5, Insightful)
Kobo Inc is owned Rakuten...who are Rakuten you may ask. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakuten [wikipedia.org] Among its numerous online properties, its flagship B2B2C e-commerce platform Rakuten Ichiba is the largest e-commerce site in Japan and among the world’s largest by sales...in case you were wondering.
Because I know you want to know http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=rakuten.co.jp [google.com] this is the washing machines they sell.
Re:Except its a lie. (Score:5, Insightful)
B&N Doesn't Sell Washing Machines Either (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmmm... and it is working for them to beat Amazon.
Re:Focus all you want... (Score:4, Insightful)
Except that's just not how the market work. Focusing might sound good on the surface, but in reality it's not going to be the most successful. It might even be better for the customers that it has, but it's not going to make more money. First off, if you can buy everything from one place then you are used to and comfortable with buying stuff from that place, so a vast majority of people will buy stuff from that store. Who do you think sells more dog food in America, Petco or WalMart? Secondly, if you're a company with more revenue streams, you have more resources to develop new products, and you have more resources to hold yourself up between the time you release those products and the time you actually start making a profit off of them.
You can argue that Kobo's focusing could lead to better results in terms of user experience, but they aren't going to beat Amazon in terms of market share unless they really come up with something consumers think is unique and amazing.
Slashvertisment (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: Focus all you want... (Score:5, Insightful)
... which are full of fake, paid content. I stick to fiction with a better plot ... on my Kobo.
Re:Focus all you want... (Score:2, Insightful)
I think you'll find the typos are actually Amazon inserting a digital fingerprint in every copy downloaded. I noticed it a while back and checked a book against a friends device that had the same book - the typos were not in the same place.
I'm guessing the idea is that if you somehow steal a book out of Kindle / Kindle app then they'll know who did it