Amazon.com Launches Software Downloads Store; Many Popular Titles Made Available in Digital Format Just in Time for Tax Season.

Business Editors/Technology and Lifestyle Writers

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 12, 2001

Just in time for tax season, leading online retailer Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) today announced the launch of a new Software Downloads Store (www.amazon.com/software) that will make it more convenient for customers to purchase popular software programs and download them directly to their computers from Amazon.com.

The new store features many of the most popular downloadable titles in the industry, including a favorite this time of year, Intuit's TurboTax. Downloadable software benefits customers in that it provides near real-time delivery of the product 24 hours a day.

"With the introduction of a new Software Downloads Store, we can now meet the needs of our customers in a matter of minutes instead of a matter of days," said Kirk Koenigsbauer, general manager of software at Amazon.com. "Near real-time delivery is a huge benefit to software shoppers, whether they're battling the latest 'love bug' virus or procrastinating until the eleventh hour to do their taxes."

At launch, Amazon.com is offering leading software titles in the tax, multimedia and antivirus categories, including:

-- Quicken and TurboTax from Intuit

-- Norton AntiVirus 2001 from Symantec

-- Dreamweaver and Flash from Macromedia

-- PartitionMagic from PowerQuest

-- PGP Personal Privacy from McAfee

The Software Downloads Store will include all the features Amazon.com customers have come to expect, including great search capabilities, unique personalization features and insightful customer reviews. Amazon.com is working with Ingram Micro (NYSE:IM) and Preview Systems (Nasdaq:PRVW) to create a seamless and convenient transaction for the customer. Ingram Micro hosts the digital content, and Preview Systems provides the enabling technology to securely deliver the application to the customer's desktop.

Purchasing and downloading software is an easy, quick process. Customers can simply find the title(s) they want to purchase and proceed through the purchase process as they normally would, by adding the item(s) to their Shopping Carts and completing the sales transaction. Much as in e-Books, the download URL is e-mailed to the customer within a few minutes of purchase.

Customers can also find additional tax preparation solutions at the new Tax Center (www.amazon.com/tax) in the Amazon Software store. In addition to popular tax software titles, there are tax guidebooks, calculators and other tools to help customers prepare for tax day.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com (Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries) is the Internet's No. 1 retailer. Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) 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 seeks to be the world's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online. Amazon.com lists more than 28 million unique items in categories such as electronics, kitchen products, books, music, DVDs, videos, camera and photo items, toys, software, computer and video games, tools and hardware, lawn and patio items, and wireless products. Through Amazon.com zShops, any business or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.com's over 29 million cumulative customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, sellers can accept credit card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments.

Amazon.com operates four international Web sites: www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de and www.amazon.co.jp. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 250,000 movies and entertainment titles and 1 million cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1891 to 2003.

[pilcrow (paragraph sign)] Amazon Anywhere is the leader in mobile e-commerce, providing access from anywhere in the world to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and through handheld wireless Internet devices that use HDML or the Wireless Application Protocol.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's limited operating history, anticipated losses, significant amount of indebtedness, unpredictability of future revenues, potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results, seasonality, consumer trends, competition, risk of distribution center expansion, risks related to fourth quarter performance, risks of system interruption, management of potential growth, inventory risks, risks related to auction and zShops services, risks related to fraud and Amazon.com Payments, and risks of new business areas, international expansion, business combinations, strategic alliances and the Amazon Commerce Network. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 1999, and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2000, June 30, 2000, and September 30, 2000.