Kobo, a major e-reading platform with more than 10m users in 190 countries across smartphones, tablets and e-readers, is to create 30 new jobs in Dublin with the establishment of a new technology centre in Ireland’s capital city.
The Kobo service is built on an open platform, allowing consumers to purchase and read e-books on virtually all mainstream smart-phones, computers, tablets and e-readers.
The new Dublin technology centre will provide software development support for all worldwide Kobo partners, as well as localisation and feature enhancement for all local markets.
Kobo was acquired this year by the Tokyo-based Rakuten, the largest e-commerce company in Japan, which is the third largest e-commerce marketplace in the world.
The company recently introduced two e-ink e-readers, the Kobo Glo and Kobo Mini, and a new 7-inch Android tablet, the Kobo Arc, to its family of e-readers.
Leveraging the local talent and expertise of Dublin’s software engineers, Kobo will drive forward new innovations in e-reading, Kobo’s CEO Michael Serbinis said.
“Ireland was chosen for our new technology centre due to its availability of highly qualified people with the right mix of technical skills, access to world-class academic institutes, and attractive research and development initiatives,” Serbinis said.
Kobo is an addition to the strong cluster of consumer and digital media companies with technology operations in Ireland.
“Ireland has built a solid reputation as the digital capital of Europe and is home to some of the world’s leading technology companies,” said IDA Ireland CEO Barry O’Leary.
“The addition of an exciting pure-play e-reader company like Kobo further diversifies the digital cluster in Ireland. It also illustrates the flexibility and talent of the Irish workforce and Ireland as a platform for international expansion,” O’Leary added.
E-reader image via Shutterstock
