As It Enters Notebook Market, Sony Plans To Sell Products Direct To Consumers Later This Year.

MANHASSET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 4, 1997--

-- Report By CMP's Computer Retail Week Reveals Electronics Giant's

Plans for Direct Sales of New Notebooks, Existing Desktops,

Monitors and Other Peripherals --

According to a report posted on Computer Retail Week Online (http://www.crw.com), in addition to announcing yesterday that it plans to enter the consumer and corporate notebook market, Sony Electronics (NYSE:SNE) also announced that it will begin direct sales efforts of the new notebooks, existing desktops, monitors and other peripherals later this year.

Computer Retail Week's report states that Tim Errington, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Sony Information Technologies of America (a division of Sony Electronics) said the direct sales effort was still in the planning stages and declined to give final details. But, notes Computer Retail Week, in accordance with Sony's own minimum advertised pricing program, the company has no plans to sell products at prices other than estimated retail pricing.

The Computer Retail Week report also includes specs on Sony's new notebooks, the PCG-705 and PCG-707 (which will boast 150MHz and 166MHz Pentiums, respectively). Each will weigh less than five pounds and be 1.5-inches thick. Both come with a 12.1-inch TFT active matrix LCD screen, 14.5X CD-ROM drive, 2.1 GB hard drive, built-in modem and IrDA interface with ready-to-use digital imaging software. The notebooks also come with remote control headphones. Pricing starts at $3,500.

Computer Retail Week is one of the leading newspapers for technology retailers. Each week, it provides critical information about new alliances, technologies and products for a wide audience of computer hardware and software retailers, mass merchants, software specialty stores and other Channel members. For the past seven years, Computer Retail Week has delivered breaking news weekly, and those stories are posted on the Computer Retail Week home page.

CMP Media Inc. provides publishing, marketing and information services to the broad high-technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology -- through print and electronic media. All of CMP's publications and online products can be accessed through the company's TechWeb(R) site at http://www.techweb.com. Along with Computer Retail Week, CMP's Channel Group print titles include Computer Reseller News and VARBusiness.

NOTE: All of CMP's press releases are available on the Web at http://techweb.cmp.com/corporate. Journalists and reporters may also set up interviews with CMP's high technology experts through the site by e-mail.

CONTACT: CMP Corporate Communications

Catherine Jarrat Koatz, 516/562-7827

e-mail: ckoatz(at)cmp.com

Leslie Dunbar, 516/562-7040

e-mail: ldunbar(at)cmp.com.