Franklin eBookMan

The Franklin eBookMan is a discontinued handheld device made to read ebooks.

The eBookMan can read contacts and appointments from Microsoft Outlook; synchronization with a Windows PC is done through a USB cable.

Early eBookMan units lost all information stored on them when the batteries were changed.

Its digital rights management system is tied directly to the hardware, which resulted in an immediate problem for marketing: it was not possible to try the device in-store since it wouldn't work until the user connected it to an Internet-linked PC and downloaded their own registered version of the OS.

Support was provided via a home page at Franklin, now removed, which when development ceased in 2002 was still describing the device as 'new'.