Walmart partners with Kobo to take on Amazon Kindle Store

Walmart in partnership with Kobo today announced the launch of Walmart eBooks by Rakuten Kobo, its all-new digital books catalog in stores and online. Walmart eBooks will help Walmart to take on Amazon’s Kindle Store which enjoys monopoly in the eBooks market.

Walmart eBooks will offer the following:

• Kobo’s library of more than six million titles – from New York Times best sellers to a wide variety of indie titles and children’s books.
• A new monthly audiobook subscription – Customers will be able to subscribe to our audiobook service for $9.99 per month, which includes one audiobook per month.
• The ability to purchase digital book cards in 3,500 Walmart stores – We’ll offer nearly 40 titles including The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse-Tyson and Capital Gaines by Chip Gaines. These cards will roll out to stores beginning this week.
• Access to Kobo’s eReaders online and in-store – Starting today, customers can choose from a variety of Kobo eReaders on Walmart.com. In 1,000 stores, we will offer the Kobo Aura starting later this week.

Customers can access the Walmart eBooks through co-branded iOS and Android apps which is available today and also on Kobo eReaders. As a launch offer, Walmart announced that its first-time customers who sign up online can get $10 off their first a la carte eBook or audiobook. Also, customers who sign up for the audiobook subscription will receive a 30-day free trial.