The original version was released in May 2010 and was marketed as a minimalist alternative to the more expensive e-book readers available at the time.

[2] All Kobo e-readers share a unique pagination system which gives users the option to either count and reference pages separately within each chapter, or in the book as a whole.

[3][4] Kobo e-readers support viewing KEPUB (Kobo's proprietary ebook format based on the EPUB format), EPUB, Adobe PDF, plain text, HTML, and unprotected Mobipocket (MOBI, PRC) e-books.

It has a 10.3-inch E-Ink display at 1404 x 1872 pixels with a density of 227 ppi, 32 GB of Rom, 2 GHz CPU, WiFi 802.11 ac/b/g/n, Bluetooth, USB-C, and an updated stylus.

It is marketed as repairable, with a 7-inch Kaleido 3 display and support for the Kobo Stylus 2 in all applications.

[11] Borders Australia said that they hoped to sell high volumes of the Kobo to drive up sales at their e-content store.

It included an improved processor, screen, and new colour choices (porcelain/metallic silver, porcelain/pearlized lilac, and onyx).

Other improvements compared to the Kobo Touch included a built-in "ComfortLight" LED light, a faster processor (1 GHz), twice the onboard storage (4 GB), and twice the battery life (estimated at two months).

The Kobo Aura is the baseline e-reader with a 6-inch E Ink ClarityScreen display with 1024 × 768 resolution, 16-level grey scale, and a built-in LED front-light.

It has 4 GB storage, weighs 173 g (6.1 oz), has two months of battery life, a Freescale i.MX507 1 GHz processor, and a microSD expansion slot.

It had an upgraded version of the Aura HD's 6.8-inch E Ink Carta display with a resolution of 1440 × 1080 with 265 ppi.

The Kobo Touch 2.0 was released on 8 September 2015, as an entry-level e-reader[24] with an E Ink Pearl 6-inch display with a resolution of 800×600 and 167 ppi.

The exterior is similar in appearance to the Kobo Glo HD and it has a 1 GHz Freescale i.MX6 Solo Lite Processor and 4 GB of internal storage.

The Kobo Aura One was released on 6 September 2016, and it is the first e-reader with a 7.8-inch E Ink Carta HD waterproof touchscreen display with a 300 ppi screen.

[30] Its LED light, called the "ComfortLight PRO", can automatically reduce blue-light exposure during the night to lower the screen's effect on sleep.

It has an 8-inch, 300 ppi E-Ink display that can be held by right- and left-handed people, and it can be flipped horizontally.

Research firm Ipsos-Reid estimating that Kobo e-readers represented 46% of the Canadian market.

[66] In August 2013, Kobo was the second largest ebook retailer in Japan; further, Forbes estimated it at 3% of the market share in the United States.

[67] In October 2012, Kobo Inc. acquired the digital publishing platform Aquafadas to increase the content available on its e-reader devices.

[68] The firmware updates from Kobo are unencrypted and a wide variety of patches can be applied to them to alter the built-in functionality.