The Rocket eBook is an early commercial handheld
e-reader
An e-reader, also called an e-book reader or e-book device, is a mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals.
Any device that can display text on a screen may act as an e-read ...
that was produced by NuvoMedia in late 1998; it uses a
LCD screen and can store up to ten
e-books
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
.
E-books
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
are loaded on the device by connecting it to a computer and the device has two page turn buttons. Rocket-compatible e-books were sold online at
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 ...
and
Powell's Bookstore. It had a retail price of $499.
The Rocket eBook was manufactured by NuvoMedia until 2000, when it was purchased by
Gemstar-TV Guide International for $187 million.
[Hossein Bidgoli. ]
The Internet Encyclopedia
'. John Wiley and Sons, 2004. p. 790. After purchasing NuvoMedia and merging it with
SoftBook, Gemstar released an e-reader called the RCA eBook Reader.
NuvoMedia
On April 15, 1997,
Martin Eberhard
Martin Eberhard (born ) is an American inventor, engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Tesla, Inc. (then Tesla Motors) with Marc Tarpenning in 2003. Eberhard served as Tesla's original chairman, and its CEO until late 2007. In 2015, he was i ...
and
Marc Tarpenning
Marc Tarpenning (born June 1, 1964) is an American engineer and technology entrepreneur who is the co-founder of Tesla Inc. with Martin Eberhard in 2003. Tarpenning served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Vice President of Engineering of ...
founded NuvoMedia to make a product that could benefit from improving battery size and settled on designing an electronic book reader; the resulting Rocket eBook e-reader sold 20,000 units in 1999.
References
External links
"The Tale of Rocketbook – The very first e-reader" Good E-Reader, 2018
{{Ebooks
Dedicated ebook devices
Electronic paper technology
Electronic publishing