EBook Technologies (ETI), the company which makes eBookwise, can apparently offer this kind of centralized control of content for enterprise users: <http://www.ebooktechnologies.com/enterprise.htm>. For example, they're currently partnered with MyDistrict.Net which, if I understand correctly, uses the reader to push out new route information to truck drivers periodically. Someone here may know more about how it actually works, but that's the impression I've got. I'm not sure what the mechanism is, however, because the eBookwise does not have wifi or a wired Internet connection--you have to hook it up to a computer via USB to download books off of Fictionwise (or use impserve to grab it from your own computer). I guess it does have a 33.6k modem, too.
The eBookwise itself allows notetaking with a stylus, so it seems to match your requirements of no Internet, annotation ability, and potentially, centralized content control. But it is old technology, ancient in terms of ebooks. It uses an LCD screen and has its own proprietary file format which may not have the books you're looking for unless you're creating them or converting them yourself. No .pdf, but conversion from Word, html, and txt documents is very doable, and other ebook formats may be possible with some know-how. Also, you cannot get annotations back out of the device onto a computer very easily unless you have Smartmedia cards and good tech skills, so take that into account.
On the other hand, it's dirt cheap compared to other readers, and as I said above, it may be capable of centralized content distribution. You'd have to email the company to find out for sure. As you can tell, I love the old eBookwise, so take that into consideration.
|