eReader.com's Mike Violano Elected to Open eBook Forum's Board of Directors

Business Wire, June 2, 2004

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

BookExpo America 2004

DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 2, 2004

eReader.com (formerly Palm Digital Media), the world's largest and most popular eBookstore, announced today that Mike Violano, vice president and general manager of eBooks and eReader at PowerByHand, has been elected to the Open eBook Forum's (OeBF) Board of Directors. OeBF is the leading trade and standards association for the eBook industry.

Violano has more than 25 years of experience in the publishing industry, having held a number of positions with trade, professional and reference publishers including Simon & Schuster, Macmillan USA, Pearson Education and Hungry Minds. He is also a published author. In his current role at eReader.com, Violano focuses on enlisting new publishers, growing the eBook market and satisfying eBook readers around the world.

"My background and experience enable me to view the pivotal issues and challenges faced by the eBook industry from various viewpoints - as an eTailer, publisher, author and reader," explained Violano. "I am excited about working with the other OeBF directors and members to evangelize the values and benefits of ePublishing and expand the eBook marketplace."

"Violano and eReader.com have already been such strong supporters of the OeBF," said Nick Bogaty, executive director, Open eBook Forum. "As part of the board, Violano can contribute even more to the OeBF and the eBook industry by building customer awareness, recruiting new publishers to join the organization, lobbying for standards and focusing on the successful retailing and distribution of eBooks."

eReader.com will be exhibiting at BookExpo America in Chicago on June 3 - 6, 2004. Please visit booth #4732 for a demonstration of eReader Pro and the eReader.com website.

About the Open eBook Forum

The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) is an international non-profit trade and standards organization for the electronic publishing industry. The Forum's work will foster the development of applications and products that will benefit creators of content, makers of reading systems and consumers. An OeBF member list and membership information can be found on the OeBF website at www.openebook.org.

About eReader.com

eReader.com (formerly Palm Digital Media), a PowerByHand company, is the largest and most popular eBookstore in the world. With successful partnerships with the leading trade and reference publishers such as Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Merriam Webster, Time Warner Book Group and more than 80 other prominent publishers, eReader.com offers more than 13,000 titles with hundreds of new releases each month.

Founded in 1998, eReader.com has built a devoted customer base of more than 225,000 with thousands of new customers purchasing for the first time every month.

About PowerByHand

PowerByHand is the leading provider of mobile content solutions for consumers, content providers, e-tailers and mobile operators. We deliver over 60,000 digital media titles to millions of customers monthly worldwide through our content sites PalmGear.com, eReader.com, SmartPhone.net, PocketGear.com and provide mobile content solutions which support over 50 million mobile subscribers through partners such as Verizon, mmO2, Lycos, PalmSource and Amazon. For more information, visit www.powerbyhand.com.