After the adventure of Cybook 1 & 2, a new product and goals for the founders of Bookeen. The priorities: better screen visibility, especially outside, and reduced eye fatigue; better autonomy, to take advantage of the improved reading comfort; and of course, a price below 500€.
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?
