Earth's Biggest Bookstore and @Home Network Offer Users Direct Access to Leading Online Bookseller
SEATTLE, WA and REDWOOD CITY, CA (November 10, 1997)-- Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) the leading online book retailer, and @Home Network (NASDAQ: ATHM) the leader in high-speed Internet services via the cable infrastructure, today announced a multi-year agreement whereby Amazon.com (www.amazon.com) will be the premier bookseller throughout the @Home service. @Home users will have high-speed, direct access to browse and purchase books from Amazon.com's catalog of more than 2.5 million books. These services are expected to be integrated into @Home's service by the end of the year. Under the terms of the agreement, Earth's Biggest Bookstore will be the premier bookseller on the @Home Network's shopping service, book directories, and search pages. @Home users also will have direct access to Amazon.com's fast and easy search and browse services through contextual links in @Home's editorial content. This agreement marks the first time Amazon.com has formed a strategic alliance with a cable Internet service provider.
"By leveraging @Home's high-speed capabilities, broadband content, and unique user interface, this agreement clearly demonstrates our ability to build an effective portal for merchants," said Charles Moldow, @Home Network's Vice President of Media Development. "We expect our broadband environment to provide significantly higher revenues than merchants in the narrowband space, as our users can browse and shop effortlessly for a bestseller or a book on a specialized subject in Earth's Biggest Bookstore."
"This deal matches huge selection with a broadband environment to provide our customers with a high-octane way to access our store," said George Aposporos, Amazon.com's Vice President of Business Development. "As the premier bookseller on the @Home service, we have maximized our position in the emerging cable Internet market."
Based in Redwood City, California, @Home Network
(http://www.home.net) distributes high-speed interactive services to residences and businesses using its own network architecture and a variety of transport options including the cable industry's hybrid-fiber coaxial infrastructure. The cable connection provides users significant increases in speed over conventional Internet services. Leveraging the always on attributes of cable, @Home allows for unique multimedia applications that go beyond current Web experiences. Since its founding in May 1995, @Home Network has reached affiliate agreements with eight leading cable companies in North America, including Tele-Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp., Comcast Corporation, Cox Communications, InterMedia Partners, Marcus Cable, Rogers Cablesystems Limited, and Shaw Communications.
Amazon.com, Inc., Earth's Biggest Bookstore, is the leading online retailer of books and is the premier bookseller on AOL.com, Yahoo!, Netscape, Excite, the Alta Vista Search Network, and the Prodigy Shopping Network. Amazon.com offers a catalog of 2.5 million titles, easy-to-use search and browse features, e-mail services, personalized shopping services, Web-based credit card payment, and direct shipping to customers. Amazon.com has virtually unlimited online shelf space and can offer customers a vast selection through an efficient search-and-retrieval interface, as well as streamlined ordering through 1-ClickSM technology.
Amazon.com, Inc., is headquartered at 1516 Second Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101. Internet address: http://www.amazon.com. Telephone: (206) 622-2335.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from predicted results. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the amount of time required to integrate the @Home and Amazon.com services, Amazon.com's and @Home's limited operating history, the unpredictability of their future revenues, and the risks associated with capacity constraints and management of growth. More information about factors that may affect @Home's and Amazon.com's financial results is included in @Home's and Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see the Final Prospectus for @Home's initial public offering date July 11, 1997, the Final Prospectus for Amazon.com's initial public offering dated May 15, 1997, and Amazon.com's Form 10Q for the second quarter ended June 30, 1997. Neither @Home or Amazon.com assumes any obligation to update the information contained in this press release.
@Home Network, @Home, and the @ logo are trademarks of @Home Network and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Amazon.com, Earth's Biggest Bookstore, and 1-Click are service marks of Amazon.com, Inc. All other brands and products are trademarks of their respective companies.