Kobo has finally made its eBook reader device available to customers for purchase on its own website.

Up until now, all customers looking to purchase a Kobo eBook reader were redirected to either an independent book seller or a third party website like Best Buy. Finally, the company has begun direct sales of its devices like Kobo Glo, Mini and Arc through its own websites to customers in the U.S. and Canada.  The devices will still be available for purchase through independent booksellers and third party websites.

Kobo made the announcement in a press release which read, "Kobo believes eReading is a global movement and is focused on rapidly expanding its footprint through retail and publishing partners around the world. In 2013, Kobo will continue its goal to be the best eReading service in the world and is on track to becoming a billion dollar company. Kobo now has more than 13-million Readers enjoying its superior eBookstore, which offers more than 3.2-million titles across 68 languages including bestsellers, classics, self-published works, comics, children's books, manga, and graphic novels. Already this year, Kobo's customers turned more than 1.3-billion pages reading for 10-million hours."

The company boasts of a customer base in more than 190 countries and offers a wide variety of eReading devices and free eReading applications. The company launched in Brazil, Portugal, Italy, Japan, Spain, South Africa and the Netherlands in 2012 and plans to head to Russia, India and China in 2013. In the U.S., its share of the ebook market is small and lags behind Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple.