Where and How Reading is Going with Kobo CEO Mike Serbinis

Joining me on PowerTalk today to discuss the e-reader market, its new line of Android tablets that are designed with readers in mind, as well as how it works with small book retailers and more, is Mike Serbinis, the CEO and founder of Kobo.

If you’re like me, you are an avid reader. Books, newspapers, magazines and all sorts of reports from companies like Gallup or the Congressional Budget Office. As the old saying goes, reading is fundamental.

Much like many other industries, the publishing industry has been rocked by technology — how we consume information has changed, and that means how people read has changed as well. Print continues to cede ground to digital publications that can be read on e-readers, tablets, smartphones and even on your computing desktop. We’ve seen magazines, like Newsweek, shift from print to only digital and newspaper companies such as The New York Times (NYT) try to figure out a pay-wall solution for content. We’ve seen once-prominent bookstore chains go out of business. In the case of Barnes & Noble (BKS), the company shrank its footprint.

Now when most people think of reading digitally, they tend to think of either the Apple (AAPL) iPad or Amazon.com’s (AZMN) Kindle e-reader and Fire tablet. While those are viable solutions, there is another out there.

The Wall Street Journal named the Kobo Aura HD the “best e-Reader,” beating out Amazon’s Kindle and the Nook from Barnes & Noble. I have to say I have been trying out the Kobo Aura and it’s great. Its online bookstore has 4 million books to choose from, as well as newspapers, magazines and more.

Mike shares a number of insights to where all of this technology is heading and he reviews some of the strategic moves that Kobo is making to be ahead of the curve.

Listen to my behind-the-scenes PowerTalk conversation now, so you are even more in the know:

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