Kobo partners with Italy's Mondadori Group

The Digital Reader reports that Kobo has partnered with Italy's Mondadori Group, which is the country's largest book and magazine publisher, to sell its Kobo Touch eReader and compatible eBooks. 400 of Mondadori Group's 628 owned and franchised stores will carry the Kobo Touch, and the eReader and eBooks will also be sold online.

Samsung may be dropping Kobo as its European eBook supplier

The Digital Reader reports that some users of Samsung Android devices in Europe are getting a warning message when they open Samsung's own eReader app. The warning informs users that they need to download Kobo's app from the Google Play store if they want to continue reading the eBooks that they purchased for use in Samsung's eReader app, and that Samsung plans to release its own "new and improved" eReader service soon.

Kobo has provided the eBooks and back-end transaction services for Samsung in Europe, but it looks like that deal is coming to an end. When Kobo and Samsung originally struck their deal, Kobo only had black & white hardware eReaders, but it's now competing with Samsung via its Vox Android tablet. Samsung may have decided that it doesn't want to funnel revenue to a competitor. There are many alternative vendors that Samsung could work with (txtr and Blio are two possibilities.)