50 Reasons to Love Toronto: No. 26, Kobo is taking on the Kindle

When Heather Reisman, the founder of Indigo Books and Music, began selling e-books in 2009, she made a choice that seemed self-sabotaging. Kobo, her e-book web store, allows purchased books to be downloaded onto a variety of smart phones, tablets and e-readers (not just Kobo’s own wireless reading device). The open platform policy is a philosophical divide from the original Kindle e-books, which had limited compatibility. Reisman, it turns out, was ahead of the curve: the easy accessibility of Kobo gave it an advantage over other e-book web stores. There are now three million Kobo users in 200 countries, with access to two million e-book titles. It seems that giving book lovers a choice simply increases their appetite to read.