Amazon.com and Sprint First to Offer Internet Shopping on Wireless Phones - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, Dec 13, 1999

Leading online retailer Amazon.com and Sprint PCS, the nation's largest 100-percent digital, 100-percent PCS nationwide wireless network, Wednesday announced the availability of online shopping at Amazon.com from Internet-ready Sprint PCS Phones.

For the first time ever in the United States, two-way transactional electronic commerce services are now available for Sprint PCS and Amazon.com customers to utilize for shopping easily and conveniently on the Internet via their Sprint PCS Phones.

"We want shopping to be the easiest thing our customers do this holiday season," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO. "Our Amazon.com Anywhere initiative continues to expand how our customers find, discover, and buy anything online -- at any time, from anywhere."

"For the first time ever, shopping from your wireless phone...we're excited to join Amazon.com to be the first wireless provider to offer online shopping via the Sprint PCS Wireless Web to our customers nationwide," said Andrew Sukawaty, Sprint PCS president. "Our customers are already using the Sprint PCS Wireless Web to access their stock portfolios, check the news, or see if a flight is on time, virtually anytime, anywhere, nationwide. With Wednesday's announcement, we bring our customers the nation's leading online shopping destination to the palm of their hand."

According to a Yankee Group assessment, there were an estimated 220 million worldwide digital wireless-phone subscribers last year, and 150 million Internet users. In five years, there will be more than a half-billion Internet accounts and roughly 1 billion digital wireless-phone subscriptions. Internet-enabled "Smart Phones" are expected to have 48 million users worldwide by 2002 and 204 million by 2005.

By using any Internet-ready Sprint PCS Phone, customers can shop online by selecting Amazon.com from the phone's MiniBrowser menu. Registered Amazon.com customers are ready to purchase any items sold directly by Amazon.com, including music, DVDs, videos, books, toys, video games, software, home-improvement items, and consumer electronics, while on the Sprint PCS Wireless Web. Customers can also open accounts with Amazon.com directly from their Sprint PCS Internet-ready Phones and start shopping from anywhere at anytime.

To make wireless shopping more convenient, Amazon.com Anywhere has expanded the number of wireless features for Sprint PCS customers. Starting Wednesday, Sprint PCS customers can take advantage of Amazon.com's popular Gift-Click and Personal Recommendations features, and can access Best Seller lists. With the Gift-Click feature, Sprint PCS Wireless Web customers will be able to buy and send gifts by simply entering the recipient's e-mail address on their wireless phone. Amazon.com will handle all the details including contacting the recipient to arrange delivery. Other wireless shopping features include the ability to search for specific products, compare prices or check on orders.

Amazon.com Anywhere is a broad expansion of services that allows customers to access Earth's Biggest Selection from many wireless devices. Sprint PCS Internet-ready Phones are the first wireless phones to enable customers nationwide to shop wirelessly at Amazon.com. Amazon.com collaborated with Phone.com (Nasdaq:PHCM), a leader in Wireless Application Protocol Forum (WAPF) technology, on developing the application for display on a wireless phone.

Sprint PCS launched its Sprint PCS Wireless Web service in late September, offering customers a suite of simple, user-friendly wireless data products and services. By using Internet-ready Sprint PCS Phones, customers can now shop, trade stocks online, browse select Internet-based content in real time, receive automatic personalized news features, weather, stock quotes, and e-mail updates, and connect to the Internet or corporate Intranet by using their Sprint PCS Phone in place of a modem. The Sprint PCS Wireless Web is available anytime, anywhere on the Sprint PCS 100-percent digital, 100-percent PCS nationwide wireless network.

The Sprint PCS Wireless Web can be added to any Sprint PCS Service Plan $29.99 and higher for an additional $9.99 per month. Sprint PCS customers who choose not to select a Wireless Web Service Plan can still access the service for a default rate of $.39 per minute. There is no extra service charge to access an Amazon.com account while on the Sprint PCS Wireless Web. Details are available at www.amazon.com/anywhere; www.sprintpcs.com; or at any Sprint Store, RadioShack store, or other retailers in the Sprint PCS nationwide wireless network.

Amazon.com (Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries) is the Internet's No. 1 music, No. 1 DVD and video, and No. 1 book retailer. Amazon.com opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection, along with online auctions and free electronic greeting cards. Amazon.com lists more than 18 million unique items in categories including books, CDs, toys, electronics, videos, DVDs, home-improvement products, software, and video games. Through Amazon.com zShops, any business or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.com's more than 13 million customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, any seller can accept credit card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments.