Amazon.com Launches e-Books Store, Offering Unique and Exclusive Content to Customers

Business Wire, Nov 14, 2000

Business/Entertainment Editors

SEATTLE--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Nov. 14, 2000

By Bringing Together the Strengths of Amazon.com, Microsoft

and Audible.com, New Store Makes Shopping for Digital Content

Easier Than Ever

Leading online retailer Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) today announced the opening of its new electronic book store (www.amazon.com/e-books), featuring content that has never before been available in print along with exclusive electronic book (e-book) titles in Microsoft Reader format (Nasdaq:MSFT) and downloadable digital audio titles from Audible, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADBL).

E-books are already delivering brand-new content--whether it's access to books before they hit the street (M.J. Rose's In Fidelity) or a short essay by author David Baldacci on the origins of his latest novel (The Origins of Wish You Well)--to readers in a fast and easy-to-use new format. Some of the titles offered in the Amazon.com e-Books store that are not available in print include:

-- In Fidelity by M.J. Rose (Pocket Books)

-- Star Trek: S.C.E #1: The Belly of the Beast by Dan Wesley Smith (Pocket
Books)

-- Star Trek: S.C.E. #2: Fatal Error by Keith R.A. DeCandido (Pocket Books)

-- Snow: The Prologue to Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan (Simon & Schuster
Trade)

-- Turtle Island Dreaming by Thompson Sayer Crockett (ipublish.com)

-- Up, Simba! 7 Days on Trial of an Anticandidate by David Foster Wallace
(ipublish.com)

The new Amazon.com e-Books store brings together the best of Amazon.com--great search capabilities, unique personalization features, insightful customer reviews and vast selection--and combines it with the strengths of the Microsoft Reader eBook platform to bring customers the ultimate destination for digital content. Offering e-books in Microsoft Reader format for PCs and laptops, and downloadable e-audiobooks from Amazon.com partner audible.com, the new store makes it easy for novices to get started with these new formats and for experts to find exactly what they are seeking.

"E-books are already opening up a whole new world for readers," said Lyn Blake, Amazon.com Books general manager. "What's exciting for readers is that we are just scratching the surface today with the technology and the content, and the potential for both is amazing. While customers will continue to be impressed with the technology as it advances, we think it's the unique and exclusive content that will really delight customers, as demonstrated today by our launch with a host of titles that are unavailable in print or audio anywhere else."

With more than a thousand e-book titles ranging from science fiction to business and investing to romance to health, mind, and body and more, the e-Books store lets customers download recent bestsellers or find their favorite traditional works. The store also features more than 30 free e-book titles available for download, providing customers a risk-free opportunity to experience e-books and test drive Microsoft Reader.

Five bestselling titles are making their e-book debut exclusively at Amazon.com. They are:

-- Leading the Revolution (Harvard Business School Press)-- an

Amazon.com Hot 100 title written by bestselling business

strategist Gary Hamel

-- Secrets of Frank Herbert's Dune (ibooks)-- the

highly-anticipated insider's guide to the upcoming television

miniseries airing on the Sci-Fi channel

-- The GE Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch's Battle Plan for Corporate

Revolution (McGraw-Hill)-- Amazon.com Hot 100 title that

outlines Welch's successful strategies while CEO at General

Electric

-- The New American Standard Bible (Foundation Publications)--

considered the most literally accurate translation of the

Bible in the English language

-- Worst-Case Scenario Handbook (Chronicle Books)-- the quirky

"how-to" guide that provides readers sound advice for those

unexpected life-threatening situations

"Once again, Amazon.com is redefining what it means to buy a book," said Steve Stone, general manager of the Microsoft eBooks product group. "The combination of Amazon.com's incredible shopping experience and the unique capabilities and instant delivery available with Microsoft Reader will make electronic reading a powerful new reality."

Amazon.com has brought together leading digital technology providers to ensure a seamless customer experience. Microsoft has created a customized Amazon.com version of Microsoft Reader, giving customers the ability to purchase and download e-book titles directly from Amazon.com and store an entire library of content on their laptops and PCs.

Microsoft Reader is the first product to include ClearType(TM) display technology, a Microsoft innovation that greatly improves font resolution on LCD screens for users of desktop or laptop PCs running the Windows(R) operating system as well as handheld reading devices. Microsoft Reader strictly adheres to the traditions and benefits of fine typography. It provides a clean, uncluttered display; ample margins; full justification; proper spacing, leading and kerning; and powerful tools for bookmarking, highlighting and annotation. Microsoft Reader is available for free immediate download at http://www.amazon.com/microsoftreader.