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 A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...

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 U. ...

and

Powell's Bookstore Powell's Books is a chain of bookstores in Portland, Oregon, and its surrounding metropolitan area. Powell's headquarters, dubbed Powell's City of Books, claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. Powell's City of ...

. 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 SoftBook was one of the first commercial handheld e-readers produced for reading e-books that released in 1998 by SoftBook Press, Inc. of Menlo Park, California, Menlo Park, California. Overview The SoftBook, designed by IDEO and Lunar Design, fea ...

, 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 in ...

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