Kobo Plus comes to Singapore and Malaysia

Love reading? Kobo Plus is available as of today in Singapore and Malaysia for buffet-style reading or audiobook listening.

Kobo Plus is here

For a fixed fee, readers in Singapore and Malaysia can now access a library of over two million eBooks or over 300,000 audio books. Or both.

• Kobo Plus Read (eBooks) for SG$9.99 or RM27.
• Kobo Plus Listen (Audiobooks) for SG$9.99 or RM27.
• Kobo Plus Read & Listen for SG$12.99 or RM35.

You can check it out with the free 14-day trial.

Vibrant market for reading

Rakutan Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn was in Singapore this afternoon for the launch, and he spoke about the vibrant market here for eBooks.

• "Vibrant" and "dynamic" market here for reading.
• Multilingual content: English, Chinese, and more.
• Strong support for reading culture*.

Some details of Kobo users in Singapore:

• 46% male; 54% female
• 25-34 yo: 26%
• 18-24 yo: 21%
• 35-44 yo: 20%
• 45-54 yo: 17%
• 55-64 yo: 8%
• 65+ yo: 7%

And psst, Kobo's active readers in Singapore grew by 31% in 2024!

Here are some Kobo Plus statistics according to Michael.

• 6.2x more book starts.
• Great for discovering new authors.
• 2x reading time and 6.6x higher finishes.

*Specifically, the investments by the Singapore government in public libraries.

Kobo e-readers

I have over 10 e-readers at home and my favourites are the devices made by Kobo.

Here's why:

• Exceptional reader experience with the ability to fine-tune how content is displayed: Multiple fonts and up to 32 steps to adjust text size, margins, and spacing etc.
• Support for non-Kobo content such as NLB library books through Overdrive integration and online articles saved in Pocket.
• Can import books in from third-party applications such as Calibre, which allows me to easily categorise them into Collections and Series.

Have you used a Kobo e-reader? How do you read?