Kobo, a unit of Indigo Books & Music Inc., No. 177 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, has expanded its international presence with the launch of a German e-commerce store.

Launched last week, the store has an inventory of 80,000 German-language titles and gives German readers access to Kobo’s 2.4 million e-books. The store, managed by a German team, offers German-language content, apps and the Kobo eReader Touch Edition in German.

As part of the launch, Kobo is offering free German-language apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android, with a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet app under development. Users in Germany can download Kobo apps from the Apple App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World as well as from Kobo.

“The European reading community is hungry for e-books, and with our rollout in Germany we’re realizing our vision of delivering local content and immersive reading experiences to more readers, on more platforms, in more countries around the world,” says Michael Serbinis, Kobo’s CEO.

Kobo in April kicked off its European expansion, by announcing plans to launch local sites this summer. The retailer already operates local language and currency sites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

Kobo plans to open sites in Spain, France, Italy and The Netherlands in upcoming months.