Rakuten’s Canadian Kobo ereader subsidiary said it exceeded market forecasts during the second half of 2012.

It sold more than 4 million devices during the six-month period, bringing its total number of registered users to 12 million.

The company said ereader sales jumped by almost 150% in December, driven by market entries including Brazil, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa and Spain.

Kobo now claims to have about 20% share of the global ereader market.