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Kobo gets lighter, brighter, and more powerful with new line of e-readers

Kobo is set to announce a trio of new devices at a press event in Toronto this morning.

The new line of e-readers includes an Android-powered tablet (known as the Kobo Arc), a pocket-sized device being billed as the smallest e-reader on the market (known as the Kobo Mini), and an update of Kobo’s popular touch-screen e-reader that now has a built-in light (known as the Kobo Glo).

The Kobo Arc, an update of Kobo’s existing tablet known as the Vox, will retail for $250 for the 16 GB version and $200 for the 8 GB version. The Glo and Mini will sell for $130 and $80, respectively. Kobo CEO Mike Serbinis tells Reuters that they will go on sale in the coming months.

The launch comes as Kobo makes a big push in the U.S., where it recently announced a retail partnership with independent bookstores. The announcement also comes in advance of an Amazon press event later today, at which Kobo’s main U.S. competitor is expected to unveil an update to its own tablet device, the Kindle Fire, and possibly even launch its first smartphone.

From Reuters:

“There are players in the market — Amazon being one of them — that have Apple envy and they are going after this general purpose tablet market. We remain focused on the book lover and are really making a bet on the book lover,” said Serbinis.

“It is certainly the road less traveled, but what we have proven having just crossed over 10 million readers across the world in a matter of 32 months is that we have a great solution for those book lovers.”