FINLAND, June 30, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- Nokia and Amazon.com have today announced the launch of the www.amazon.de mobile commerce service for German-speaking consumers. Users of WAP-enabled mobile phones are now able to find, discover, and buy German and other language books and music CDs from Amazon's on-line catalogue. The service is localised with German content and all products are shipped from Germany. Similar to the www.amazon.co.uk service launched in February, the WAP service for www.amazon.de will also be promoted in Club Nokia.
To sign up to Club Nokia, users should go to www.club.nokia.de and register for the service online. Members will be provided with a user ID and password and will be able to access the mobile Club Nokia service with their WAP-enabled handset right away. The Amazon.de link is easily accessible within the mobile Club Nokia site.
"We are very pleased to see our joint effort with Amazon continue to bear fruit as planned," says Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia Mobile Phones. "We are also excited to assist Amazon in their expansion into mobile commerce. The time is ripe for Amazon with its strong brand recognition in Internet commerce to bring their brand to the mobile world. We estimate that as early as 2003, the number of mobile devices capable of Internet access will exceed the number of PCs connected to the Internet. Amazon's service is an excellent complement to other mobile Internet services. We look forward to rolling out further mobile sites with Amazon."
The Amazon.com Anywhere mobile services combine existing customer and product databases with mobile access through WAP technology. Amazon's customers can use their existing user accounts and securely stored billing information. Shopping is made easy, wherever users may be, such as on the street or in a caf(c), creating a totally new shopping experience. The Amazon.com Anywhere services powerfully demonstrate that mobile commerce is not just an abstract future concept, but an integral part of today's mobile phone use.
"Everything changes with wireless," says Amazon.com's President and COO, Joseph Galli. "This opens a whole new range of possibilities for creating a better shopping experience for our customers worldwide. Nokia was a natural choice as a company to partner with and very fast to respond to our needs. With a WAP-enabled mobile phone, whenever you want to buy something you don't have to add it to your 'to do' list. You just do it."
"Mobile commerce is the natural next step for Amazon.de, Germany's leading online retailer," says Philipp Humm, country manager and managing director of Amazon.de in Germany. "Our customers now have earthÂ's biggest selection in their pocket. WAP technology allows our customers to find, discover and buy from Amazon.de wherever they are. Partnering with Nokia, the leading mobile manufacturer worldwide, gives our customers fast and easy access to our mobile commerce service."
In line with their promise to bring mobile commerce to users around the world, Nokia and Amazon.com have continued their work together in developing the Amazon.com Anywhere mobile services, starting in the United Kingdom and now Germany. As a part of the global agreement, Nokia and Amazon.com plan to carry out marketing campaigns in 2000 and 2001 to create awareness about the possibilities of mobile commerce.
About Nokia
Nokia is paving the way to the Mobile Information Society with its innovative products and solutions. The company is the leading mobile phone supplier and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed and IP networks, related services as well as multimedia terminals. In 1999, Nokia's net sales totaled EUR 19.8 billion (USD 19.9 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the New York (NOK), Helsinki, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 56 000 people.
About Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com (Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries) is the Internet's No. 1 music, No. 1 DVD and video, and No. 1 book 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 lists more than 18 million unique items in categories including books, CDs, toys, electronics, videos, DVDs, home improvement products, kitchen products, software, and video games. Through Amazon.com zShops, any business or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.com's more than 20 million customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, any seller can accept credit card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments. The company also participates in sothebys.amazon.com, the leading auction site for guaranteed art, jewelry, and collectibles, at www.sothebys.amazon.com.
Amazon.com seeks to be the world's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online. Amazon.com's All Product Search scours the Web to help customers find merchandise that is not available at Amazon.com, Amazon.com Auctions, or Amazon.com zShops, making Amazon.com the shopping destination to find anything. Amazon Anywhere is the leader in mobile e-commerce, providing access from anywhere in the world to Amazon.com on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and through hand-held wireless Internet devices that use HDML or the Wireless Application Protocol.
Amazon.com operates two international Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.de. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 220,000 movies and entertainment programs and 800,000 cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1892 to 2003.
Amazon.com has invested in leading Internet retailers that are improving the lives of customers by making shopping easier and more convenient. Greenlight.com, the only company that offers car buyers the control of auto purchasing online with ongoing service and support from local dealerships, at www.greenlight.com; living.com, the leading online home products and services retailer, at www.living.com; drugstore.com, an online retail. And information source for health, beauty, wellness, personal care and pharmacy, at www.drugstore.com. Pets.com, the online leader for pet products, expert information, and services, at www.pets.com. HomeGrocer.com, the first fully integrated Internet grocery-shopping and home-delivery service-with operations in Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Southern California-at www.homegrocer.com. Gear.com, which offers brand-name sporting goods at prices from 20 to 90 percent off retail at www.gear.com. Ashford.com, the leading Internet retailer of luxury and premium products and the Web's No. 1 retailer of watches and jewelry at www.ashford.com. Audible, Inc., the leader in Internet-delivered spoken audio for PC-based listening or playback on AudibleReady portable digital audio devices at www.audible.com. eZiba.com, a leading online retailer of handcrafted products from around the world at www.eziba.com. And finally WineShopper.com, the San Francisco and Napa-based Internet start-up that will ultimately offer consumers online access to the largest selection of wines available anywhere at www.wineshopper.com.
Amazon.com also has a minority interest in Della.com, which brings together leading retailers with gift registry, expert advice, and personalized gift suggestions to help everyone give better gifts at www.della.com. NextCard, Inc., considered the industry's leading issuer of consumer credit on the Internet at www.nextcard.com. And Kozmo.com, the world's leading "e-mmediate" Internet-to-door delivery service at www.kozmo.com.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that 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, and strategic alliances. 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 for the year ended December 31, 1999 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2000.