Rocket eBook

The Rocket eBook was one of the first commercial handheld e-readers that was produced by NuvoMedia in late 1998; it used a LCD screen and could store up to ten e-books.E-books were loaded on the device by connecting it to a computer and the device had two page turn buttons. Rocket-compatible e-books were sold online at Barnes & Noble 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. After purchasing NuvoMedia and merging it with SoftBook, Gemstar released an e-reader called the RCA eBook Reader.

On April 15, 1997, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded NuvoMedia to make a product that could benefit from improving battery size and settled on the electronic book; its e-book reader shipped 20,000 units in 1999.

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