Skoob is the first service to offer works by Singapore writers as well as study guides and educational books for local primary and secondary school students.
Launched by Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today, skoob offers more than 39,000 local and international bestsellers for smartphones, tablets and PCs.
“The Singapore market has long been overlooked by e-book services from abroad. With the launch of skoob, Singapore readers finally have a service that offers local books and caters specifically to their tastes and needs,” said Goh Seow Eng, SingTel’s Chief of Digital Home.It is the first e-book service to accept payments in Singapore dollars and offers tremendous savings versus the cost of traditional paper books.
For example, fans of John Grisham can enjoy his novel, The Confession, at S$9.00 instead of S$17.07 at a bookshop.
Neil Humphreys’ acclaimed Complete Notes from Singapore is available at S$13.90 instead of S$29.90.
“It also provides local publishers and writers with a powerful digital platform that allows them to reach a wider audience,” Goh added.Skoob also offers a range of classics for free download, such as Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
Skoob is available on Apple and Android tablets and smartphones via a free app. It can also be enjoyed on PCs and Macs using standard browsers.
Customers have the flexibility to download books on up to five devices. Payments can be made via Singapore credit cards. SingTel customers can choose to have purchases conveniently charged to their monthly bills.
“We are continuously working with publishers to expand our catalogue. We believe skoob’s range of local study guides and educational books will be well received by school students, and we are looking to include assessment papers soon,” Goh revealed.Mr Goh said that skoob is an important addition to SingTel’s growing suite of multimedia offerings, which includes the AMPed music service, deF!ND digital concierge, ESC games service, De!ite e-magazine service, exCite web video app and mio TV.
Skoob offers titles from six global publishing houses: Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Simon and Schuster and Macmillan.
The service carries local titles, study guides and educational books from: Popular, Marshall Cavendish, Cengage Learning, Asiapac, Flame of the Forest, McGraw Hill, Sunbear, Monsoon, Singapore Asia Publishers (SAP) and Janus Education.
Chinese language books will be available soon.
