In light of the success of the 5-inch Cybook Opus, Bookeen decides to complete their offer with a larger model. In addition, this new Cybook will offer an on-board bookstore, accessible via wifi, and a touchscreen interface.

The goal of creating a super-thin device requires Bookeen’s team to perform technical prowesses, as Bookeen intends to propose a large screen device with an innovative design, without sacrificing the solidity and robustness of the reader.

At the end of October 2010, Bookeen pulls out all the stops with the launch of the Cybook Orizon, available in white and black, and the launch of their on-board bookshop, the Bookeen Store, with over 30,000 french-language books available.

The design of the Orizon is extremely elegant. Its extraordinarily thin profile, only 7.6mm, makes it the thinnest reader in the world.

Cybook Orizon, photo by Deividas T.

With this new arrival, Bookeen proposes on the one hand a highly portable reader, the 5’’ Cybook Opus, and on the other hand the larger 6’’ Cybook Orizon, with a touchscreen interface and on-board bookstore.

These two Cybooks will be the stars of a poster campaign in the Parisian subway, to coincide with the Paris Book Fair.

Serial reader?

Hungry for books?

The Cybook Orizon meets with great success during the holidays.

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Following the success of the the Gen3, the first e-ink Cybook, in early 2008 Bookeen lays the groundwork for a new project which will become the Cybook Opus.

From the beginning, the intent is for the Opus to be a “nomad”. It must be compact (pocket-sized), lightweight, and easy to use. Bookeen takes on the product design in-house in addition to developing the proprietary Boo Reader software, setting Bookeen apart from the numerous companies who, inspired by the success of the Cybook Gen3, Amazon Kindle, and Sony Reader, begin selling OEM readers under their own brands. This marks the inauguration of readers “Made In Bookeen”.

This preliminary design was not selected

The design is honed through many iterations for the most comfortable, lightest shape possible. The first design, after considerable refinement, is finally abandoned in favour of what would be the definitive, ultra-compact design of the Opus, and the Cybook Opus is launched in August 2009 in white, then in mid-2010, in a rainbow of 8 different colours, which become the Opus’ design signature. This new Cybook is the lightest in the world, at only 150 grams.With its 5-inch screen it fits in even the smallest hand and can be easily slipped into a handbag or even a jacket pocket.

This reader also marks the arrival of epub. The Opus will even allow the reader to switch between epub and mobi format for some time, until Amazon (who bought Mobipocket to develop their catalogue) makes the format completely proprietary, and the Cybooks definitively adopt the open, standard epub format.

The Cybook Opus becomes a real success. Sold in over 50 countries, it travels around the globe, the happy nomad it was meant to be, as you can see in the photos sent by Bookeeners the world over for our first Cybook Parade!

Cybook Opus at the beginning of the Longest Road, in Australia. Photo by Marie J.

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In October 2007, Bookeen releases the Cybook Gen3, a few weeks before the first Amazon Kindle.

Bookeen Cybook Gen3

This new Cybook brings lots of changes from the previous models: a smaller format and a significantly lighter weight (174g vs. 1kg for its big brother) make it easy to hold in one hand; the first e-ink screen, for reading as comfortable as on paper, even in full sunlight; battery life which is now counted in weeks instead of hours; and a reading application “Made in Bookeen”, Boo Reader, easy to use and already concerned with providing the best possible reading experience. The Cybook Gen3 reads the Mobipocket format (prc), the dominant format at this time when the epub format was only just appearing on the scene.

The Gen3 is an important success; despite a strong production rate, the orders pile up and there is a waiting list of several weeks for delivery of this new reader.

By early 2008, Bookeen is selling the Cybook Gen3 for 350€/$ in more than 11 countries, and the Bookeen brand is developing internationally.

This small company leaves the apartment where it began and moves into a new address in Paris, and the team of the two founders grows, with the arrival of the first employees.

We saw just recently happy Gen3 owners, at the Paris Book Fair. What about you, did you have one?

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I weigh 1kg,  offer a touch-screen with a 256 colour display, an internet connection and 4 hours autonomy, who am I?

I am the Cyber book Gen1, better known as the Cybook 1^st generation!

This little riddle is just the beginning. Take a trip with us over the next few weeks back through Cybook history as we celebrate Bookeen’s 10 year anniversary! That’s right, it’s been 10 years already since Bookeen began inventing and imagining digital reading solutions.

Before creating Bookeen in 2003, Laurent Picard and Michaël Dahan participated in the adventure of Cytale, as conceptors of the first European digital book, the Cybook Gen1. In 2001, the first ebook reader, the creation of a catalogue of 1500 french-language ebooks… but this innovation was too far ahead of its time and lacked the qualities of today’s ebook readers.

After this first model and the end of Cytale, Michaël and Laurent recovered the stocks and the name “Cybook” and in an apartment in the 13th district of Paris they founded Bookeen, a company for “book enthusiasts”. It’s during this time that a new, more compact model, the Gen2, is developed, and marketed to professionals like the Chaillot theatre for example…

Tell us, are there any early adopters amongst you who were already Cybooker or Bookeener in the early 2000s?

Cybook Gen1, Gen2, Gen3

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Following on from the success of the launch of Bookeen’s e-readers by Thalia in Germany, Switzerland and Austria during Christmas 2012, the leading German Bookstore has decided to enhance its e-reader solution by adding a cloud solution powered by Deutsche Telekom.

Bookeen has been working since summer 2012 to link and connect all the Cybooks sold by Thalia to this new cloud solution. This set up offers new features helping to synchronise customers’ content within Thalia’s ecosystem.

In 2012, Thalia released Bookeen’s Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight and Cybook Odyssey 2013 Edition inbuilt with Thalia’s eBook store within 300 stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Thanks to the partnership between Bookeen and Thalia, Thalia is a leader in the German digital eBook industry. As a result of its partnership with Thalia, Bookeen has contributed to making e-reading become a mainstream technology in Germany.

Dr Bernhard Mischke, Thalia Director Digital and Mobile says: “Our collaboration with Bookeen enabled us to offer our customers eReading devices of high quality. The eReader “Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight”, for example, has been a great success, especially throughout the Christmas season. Therefore, we plan to continue our cooperation as well as improving the current range of products.”

Michael Dahan, Bookeen CEO says: “We are delighted to be continuing our work with prestigious partners as such as Thalia and Deutsche Telekom for their e-reader solution. Since we announced our partnership with Thalia last summer, we have seen a significant success in sales of the Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight sold by Thalia. This demonstrates that there is a strong market for e-reading in Germany and we are still continuing to position Bookeen as one of the industry leaders in Europe.”

Cybook Odyssey HD Frontlight

On top of managing this new solution, all Cybooks connected to Thalia ebook stores (Thalia.de, Thalia.at, Thalia.ch, Buch.de) will be able to synchronise content (new books, archived books, books opened on other devices, last page position…) within Thalia’s ecosystem.

To continue the collaboration, Bookeen is managing everyday actions on Thalia/Cybook devices (new features thru OTA updates…) and working with Thalia’s team on a future common project for an innovative and premium reading solution to be announced later on this year.

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This upgrade brings improved autonomy, new features such as pdf reflow for first generation Odyssey, as well as bug fixes.

You’ll find all the details here :
https://service.bookeen.com/News/NewsItem/View/3/cybook-odyssey-firmware-update-52

Happy reading to all of you!

Bookeen Team

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Обзор Cybook Odyssey HD от Digital.ru

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We are encountering a problem which makes impossible the creation and the authorisation of an Adobe ID account from our devices.

This problem does not affect the users who already activated their device.

The issue is currently being treated, we are doing our best to solve it as soon as possible.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Best regards,
Bookeen Team

UPDATE 1PM

Hello,

Following a technical issue, the creation and the authorisation of an Adobe ID account from our devices was not possible anymore.
This issue is partially solved, it is now possible again to authorise your Adobe ID on our devices.

For users which do not have an Adobe ID account, please use the following link in order to create one:

https://www.adobe.com/account/sign-in.adobedotcom.html

Then use the newly created account to authorise your Bookeen device.

Regarding the Adobe ID account creation from our devices, our team is still working to solve this issue.

Again, we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Best regards,

Bookeen Team

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PDF

PDF format was specifically designed not to be fluid, to the contrary; it’s meant to guarantee an identical display no matter what the support, without taking into account the size of the screen, etc. It’s the ideal format for preparing a document for printing on paper, since you can be sure that the layout you have prepared will display exactly the same for the printer as on your own computer. However, what makes it perfect for print is exactly what makes it unsuitable for ebooks, which must be readable in many different conditions, depending on the size of the screen and the needs and preferences of the reader.

To make pdf reading easier, on the Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight, Bookeen proposes a reflow mode for pdfs, which simplifies the layout of your document to make it more readable on an ebook reader, which has a smaller screen than a PC or A4 format page.

Even with this option, we recommend that you avoid the pdf format whenever possible, unless your document has been specifically formatted for your Cybook and your personal preferences (texte size, choice of font…) since the inherent rigidity of this format will never allow a completely personnalised display.

EPUB

The EPUB format is specifically designed to provide an optimal reading experience on the support of your choice, by allowing the text to adapt to the size of the screen while still respecting the layout and formatting. EPUB allows you to modify the size of the text on the fly and to choose the font you prefer (did you know you can even add your favourite fonts to your Cybook? Just place the font files into the “Fonts” folder on your Cybook, then choose your favourite font from the menu while reading). Your Cybook even allows you to choose whether or not to activate justification, hyphenation, and even typographic ligatures if your font proposes them (for example Minion font, provided with your Cybook)!

EPUB is the ideal format for ebooks. For an optimal reading experience, we strongly recommend you choose EPUB whenever possible.

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After launching the Cybook Odyssey in June, Bookeen, the European leader in e-reading, joined forces with Thalia, the #1 Bookseller in Germany, to lead the digital market in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In November Thalia will launch Bookeen’s Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight and the Cybook Odyssey 2013 Edition within 300 stores.

Thalia will be the exclusive German bookseller selling the Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight during the Christmas period.

Thalia will offer the brand new Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight, the best illuminated e-reader ever. With this device Bookeen brings to Thalia premium technology ahead of what Amazon and Kobo are offering. Thalia will also sell the Cybook Odyssey 2013 edition. Both Cybook Odysseys will be provided with a Thalia e-book store embedded.

This announcement further strengthens Bookeen’s international strategy which is focused on delivering e-reading devices on a global basis with a Cybook Odyssey e-reader solution and a strong content management system.

This partnership affirms Bookeen’s position as the only European competitor to the Amazon Kindle and Kobo e-readers.

Michael Busch, Thalia CEO:
“We at Thalia have a solid foundation of experience in eBooks and eReading. This expanded partnership with Bookeen, after a very successful launch in June, is therefore an important step as it brings together our common experience in this domain. Our customers will be able to discover Bookeen’s new FrontLight technology within major bookshops thanks to our expert booksellers. The rapid developments in the e-reader market as well as the increase in the distribution of eBooks justifies Thalia’s strategy to invest in this sector.”

Michael Dahan, Bookeen CEO:
“Thalia has clearly proven to be one of the most influential booksellers in Europe by taking a leading position in this new digital revolution. We had an amazing start to our partnership during the summer and this is a great opportunity for Bookeen to broaden this collaboration by bringing our new products and innovation to German customers by working with Thalia. By offering our new Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight exclusively to Thalia in Germany this is clearly a key step in our partnership going forward.”

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