Press Release

Franklin Electronic Publishers and Reciprocal Inc. Integrate Technologies to Expand Digital Content for eBookMan

Addition of Reciprocal Digital Clearing Service Will Increase Availability of Digital Content in Multiple Formats from Multiple Sources

NEW YORK, June 26, 2001 -- Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc., the leading worldwide provider of handheld eBooks, and Reciprocal, Inc., the provider of business infrastructure for the distribution of digital assets, today announced a strategic relationship that is targeted to expand the availability of electronic books and other digital content for Franklin's eBookMan® multimedia content reader. Reciprocal will integrate Franklin's DRM technologies with the Reciprocal(TM) Digital Clearing Service and other Reciprocal digital distribution tools, ultimately enabling eBookMan users to download electronic content in a variety of formats, from a variety of sources.

"The new relationship between Reciprocal and Franklin will further open the options for people who want to read electronically. This is an important milestone in the emerging eBook marketplace,'' said Gregory Voynow, senior vice president, general manager, iPublish.com at Time Warner Books.

Jeff Gomez, eBook and Print on Demand Manager, St. Martin's Press said, "The publishing community is looking for assurance that copyrighted material is protected and that consumers have an appealing and affordable reading device. A Franklin/Reciprocal solution makes a compelling case.''

Reciprocal enables the distribution of digital assets by integrating critical functions, including e-commerce and electronic inventory management, with leading digital rights management (DRM) technologies. The company's transaction-processing services deliver e-commerce for electronic books and other forms of digital content, while ensuring an enjoyable consumer experience and secure copyright protection. Reciprocal's solutions are widely deployed in the publishing industry by companies such as Time Warner, Harper Collins, Random House and St. Martin's Press. Today's agreement further integrates Franklin's eBookMan into the fast-emerging open marketplace for copyright protected digital content.

"Franklin's eBookMan is quickly becoming an important destination for today's growing inventory of electronic books,'' said John Schwarz, president and CEO of Reciprocal. "By working together, we are extending the reach, power, and benefits of electronic books for publishers, authors and readers worldwide.''

"Reciprocal's services are widely supported by the world's top publishers and perform a critical function for today's emerging digital marketplace,'' said Barry Lipsky, president and CEO of Franklin. "By integrating our DRM and transaction processing technologies, we will further enable consumers to obtain valuable books, periodicals and other digital content from anywhere, at anytime.''

About Reciprocal

Reciprocal delivers the business infrastructure for the distribution of digital assets by integrating critical functions, including e-commerce and electronic inventory management, with leading digital rights management (DRM) technologies. The company provides comprehensive, easy-to-implement services that enable clients to realize new revenues and efficiencies while controlling digital assets and enabling a simple user experience. In partnership with other industry leaders, these flexible and scalable services address the requirements of the music, publishing, software, and film industries, as well as others such as financial services and healthcare. The company also offers strategic consulting and integration services that help content providers, distributors, and websites choose and implement the solution that best fits their business needs. More than 100 companies in the Americas, Europe, and Asia have selected Reciprocal as their digital distribution services provider.

About eBookMan

eBookMan® is a multimedia content player offering mass-market audiences a robust feature set and an optimal display screen at an affordable price. All three eBookMan® models have a large 240 x 200 pixel LCD that displays 87 percent more information than a typical handheld. Each model gives consumers a vehicle to download thousands of electronic books, audio books and musical works, to synchronize between users' personal information manager programs and Microsoft® Outlook®, to record and play voice memos and to write notes easily with natural handwriting recognition. Franklin's open but secure architecture also enables publishers and developers to offer more titles in a protected environment.

The entry model, EBM-900, with a suggested retail price of $129.95, includes a microphone, speaker, headphone jack, multimedia memory card for memory expansion, a USB port and 8 MB of built-in memory. The EBM-901, with a suggested retail price of $179.95, adds a backlit, polarized display and additional free books. The flagship model, the EBM-911, suggested to retail for $229.95, offers 16MB of memory and even more free content.

eBookMan won the eBook Technology Award from the International eBook Award Foundation at the Frankford Book Fair in October 2000.

About Franklin

Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc. (Amex: FEP - news), the worldwide market leader in handheld electronic books, is the designer and distributor of the award winning multimedia eBookMan® platform. The Company is the exclusive producer and distributor of the ROLODEX® Electronics brand of personal information management products. Franklin has sold more than 25,000,000 electronic books and currently publishes more than 200 titles, including dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries; encyclopedias; Bibles; entertainment titles; education and tutorial publications; and medical reference works. Franklin products, available in sixteen languages, are sold in 45,000 retail outlets worldwide, through catalogs and on line at franklin.com . The Company has sales and distribution subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Benelux countries, Canada, Australia and Mexico, and production management offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong.