From Bookselling This Week:

Opportunities in the Digital Arena for Independent Bookstores: An Action Plan for the American Booksellers Association
March 12, 2009

By Len Vlahos, ABA Chief Program Officer

History
In 1978 Douglas Adams envisioned a slim electronic folio that contained all the useful knowledge of all the people on all the planets in the universe. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as Adams imagined it, would let you carry in your pocket a device that functioned like an amalgam of Google and an e-book. And while he was trying to be funny, Adams, it turns out, was prescient.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the book industry went through a series of fits and starts with digital content. "Franklin was the first company to provide an e-book type device. In 1986 Franklin launched a fully functional electronic dictionary. This would be followed in the early '90s by Sony's unveiling of the Electronic Book Player. This product used CD-ROM technology to provide book material for viewing. The limitations of this product gave way to the eBookMan. In both cases consumers were tied to the purchase of discs or cartridges in order to view book materials."
ABA's own history with e-books began in 1999. That year the association signed one of the first contracts with NuvoMedia, maker of the Rocket eBook, the first stand-alone device onto which consumers were able to download trade books. The intent was to sell digital content through the BookSense.com network of sites, which was under construction at that time. But early consumer enthusiasm for e-books in general, and the Rocket eBook in particular, evaporated, and a conscious decision was made to shelve our e-book aspirations until the market was both better developed and more settled.

This detailed and thoughtful piece is too long to be reproduced here but for those with an interest in the subject link here to Bookselling This Week for the full report.