Sony PCs to Sport AOL Icons

America Online, Inc. and Sony Electronics Inc. said
today AOL will be featured on the desktops of all Sony PCs in the U.S. and
Canada under an extension of the companies’ marketing agreement.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sony VAIO MicroTowers and Notebooks in the U.S. and Canada will display the
AOL icon on the computer’s main screens, allowing users to access
pre-installed AOL software.

Under a similar deal completed in May, Sony announced C NET’s Snap! Internet service would provide content and search capabilities for Sony Electronics’ Web site Club VAIO.

PC manufacturers have recently offered prime desktop real estate space to services such as AOL. Last week, for example, AOL announced it reached a similar icon deal with PC maker Acer America Corp. under which Acer will feature AOL’s service on its Aspire PCs.

This summer AOL and IBM also sealed a multi-year marketing agreement under which AOL’s Interactive Service software will be featured via a desktop icon on IBM consumer Aptiva and ThinkPad computers.

“It’s increasingly apparent that as mass market consumers are buying
computers, one of their primary reasons for doing so is so that they can go
online,” said Jan Brandt, President of Marketing for America Online, Inc.
“This new agreement makes it easier for Sony customers in both the U.S. and
Canada to get online
quickly and easily, taking advantage of the powerful resources and tools
found only on AOL.”