IDGB Announces New Microsoft Reader Product Line Featuring More Than 20 Electronic Versions at Launch Available in New MS eBook Format

Business Wire, June 1, 2000

Business Editors

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 2000

Top Selling Frommer's(R) Travel Guides and Popular For

Dummies(R) Titles Make Their MS eBook Debut

IDG Books Worldwide (Nasdaq:IDGB), the leading provider of technology, business and how-to content and creator of the popular For Dummies(R) series, announced it will join a marquee list of publishers slated to offer downloadable eBooks for the Microsoft Reader with ClearType.

More than 20 of IDGB's popular titles -- including several leading Frommer's (R) travel guides -- will be among the first eBooks available for purchase in the new Microsoft Reader format, soon to become available on Barnes&Noble.com.

Several hardware manufacturers last month premiered new Pocket PC palm-sized devices that ship with an early version of the user-friendly Microsoft eBook Reader software, designed to more closely simulate the experience of reading a bound book. Later this summer, the PC version of Microsoft Reader will also be available, further broadening the market for eBooks with Microsoft Reader software to include the millions of PCs and laptops in use worldwide.

"At IDGB, it's been our vision and mission to create engaging content that's available anytime, anywhere, in any format," said IDGB Chairman and CEO John Kilcullen. "The collaborative efforts of Microsoft, barnesandnoble.com, and the network of hardware manufacturers who have worked to make eBooks convenient and user-friendly, for both content providers and consumers, marks an exciting threshold for the entire publishing industry."

He continued, "As the leading publisher of popular how-to brands, we are strongly committed to making our titles electronically available, and are very aggressively translating our works to make our full catalog accessible electronically. Accessing step-by-step, how-to information in these formats will be one of the key reasons to buy, and use, these devices."

IDGB was among the first content providers to make its print works available electronically. More than 225 CliffsNotes(R) branded titles are available today for download from the www.cliffsnotes.com Web site in Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF) format.

International Data Corp. market research estimates the market for eBook devices like Microsoft's Pocket PC to climb from 5000 units sold in 1999, to an estimated 2.8 million in 2004. Likewise, the market for eBook sales from leading edge content providers such as IDGB is expected to expand with the availability and acceptance of standardized, consumer-friendly applications like Microsoft's Reader with ClearType technology.

About IDG Books Worldwide

IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., (Nasdaq:IDGB), headquartered in Foster City, California, is a leading global knowledge company with a diverse portfolio of technology, consumer and general how-to content brands, computer-based learning tools, Web sites and Internet e-services. IDGB's best-selling brands include For Dummies(R), 3-D Visual(R), Bible(R), CliffsNotes(TM), Frommer's(R) Travel Guides, The Unofficial Guides(R), Betty Crocker's(R), Weight Watchers(R) and Webster's New World(TM). IDGB is also the publisher of AOL Press, Hewlett-Packard Press, Netscape Press and Novell Press.

The company has more than 4,000 active titles, has publishing partnership agreements in more than 90 countries plus translations in 38 languages around the world. IDGB owns the Web sites www.cliffsnotes.com, www.dummies.com and www.frommers.com. More information about IDGB is available from the company's SEC filing or by visiting the company Web site at www.idgbooks.com. IDGB is a subsidiary of International Data Group, Inc., a leading global provider of information technology media, research, conferences and expositions.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are risks associated with the timing of the new product releases and risks that the new products will not be successful in the market as well as risk factors detailed from time to time in the company's periodic reports and registration statements which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.