Bookeen Releases the First Multi-Format Electronic Book

PARIS, -- Dec. 15, 2004 -- Bookeen announces the worldwide launch of the Cybook: the first multi-format open e-book reading device. The Cybook is available in English and French versions through Bookeen online web store.


Designed to provide an optimally immersive e-reading experience, the Cybook uses a comfortable 10 inch color screen in a compact form factor. Running Microsoft Windows CE operating system, the Cybook offers a true freedom of use regarding supported documents and programs, and is the first open device in the e-book history.

Cybook owners are free to read personal and public domain content as well as copyrighted e-books and e-news acquired from the online libraries of their choice. The unit includes connectivity features with a built-in modem and USB, infrared and PC card ports, allowing communication with a personal computer and Internet browsing while on the go.

The Cybook supports the following common e-book formats: PRC, PDB, HTML, RTF and TXT. Bundled e-book readers are: Mobipocket Reader, uBook Reader, Boo Reader and Boo Reader Vision. Additional programs include Internet Explorer, DOC and XLS editors, a mail manager, an audio player... Beside the countless freely available public domain works, about 20,000 copyrighted titles are currently available from online libraries, such as bestselling Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” and Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower”.

Cybook users extend from the retail to the professional market. Typical users are travelers and avid readers - for whom paper has become a burden - but also vision-impaired persons who find a way back to reading thanks to the large print customization features. Professional customers include nomad and isolated workers, reference publication consumers - such as engineers and doctors - as well as a quickly increasing number of public libraries, where the Cybook is a pleasant solution to in-site reading and e-book lending.

Designers of the Cybook and founders of the company, Laurent Picard and Michael Dahan happily witness the tremendously positive feedback from Bookeen customers. Laurent Picard said, “After over five hundred years, the book has entered a new era with digital publishing and, with the Cybook, we are very happy to offer an effective solution to this complementary way of reading. Pleasure of reading, total immersion, flexible text presentation, reading in the dark are repeatedly appreciated key features.” He continued, “Amongst recent feedbacks, we were very proud to hear from a 97 year old grand-mother. Suffering from low vision, she nonetheless got easily acquainted with the Cybook and reported reading novels again without visual tiredness. We try to keep in touch with our customers to fulfill their future needs. We receive an above expectation satisfaction feedback from people e-reading everywhere, from their bed to the plane, and some even surprisingly reported reading more since they started using the Cybook.”

To learn more about Bookeen and the Cybook, visit www.bookeen.com.

About Bookeen

Bookeen is a privately held company, based in Paris France, founded by former Cytale technology managers Michael Dahan and Laurent Picard. Bookeen team pioneered the e-book industry as soon as 1998, designing the first generation electronic book and releasing the first commercial e-book device in Europe in 2000. Both a hardware and software technology innovator, Bookeen has a comprehensive knowledge of the e-publishing industry and is a global provider of digital content solutions.

Contact Information

Laurent Picard

Co-founder

Bookeen

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