Findaway World made international headlines when they secured a massive contract with the US Navy back in March. They basically developed a super locked down e-reader with no WIFI, touchscreen or USB connection. The content was preloaded in the factory and came with thousands of eBooks and audiobooks. The Navy was very happy to get their crewmen reading in the downtime and the US Air Force has just awarded Findaway World with a $500,000 contract for their own e-reader.
The US Air Force wanted a new e-reader and Findaway World was the only vendor they were in negations with. They were looking for a secure non-web based e-reader, that disallowed the ability to access operating system, make changes, delete or add titles. They also wanted 200 pre-loaded e-books from a variety of sources, such as New York Times best seller lists, large publishers, and small or university presses. The mandate was for an eclectic collections for fiction, non-fiction and educational titles.
Findaway World fit the bill because their NERD e-reader does not have the ability to add/delete content once the eBooks are loaded onto the device.
Likely the same e-reader the Navy got is the same version the US Air Force will end up getting, the only content that will change are the eBooks.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.