Press Release

July 17, 2006

SONY INTRODUCES NEW MICRO VAULT™ TINY STORAGE MEDIA

TORONTO, Ontario -- Sony of Canada Ltd., Canada's leading electronic and computer products solutions provider for consumers and business, today announced its 4 GB (gigabyte) MicroVault® Tiny storage media. 

Measuring roughly ½-inch wide and just over one inch in length, the highly-stylish Sony MicroVault Tiny 4 GB drive comes in a striking design and joins a storage media family featuring multiple colours and memory capacities ranging from 256 MB (megabytes) to 4GB.

"In line with our MicroVault concept, the Tiny is designed to deliver a user-friendly storage solution that appeals to fashion-forward consumers who range from trend-setting students to style-conscious professionals," explained Sumant Sharma, Manager, Media Storage Products, AV/IT Marketing Group, Sony of Canada Ltd.

About the thickness of a quarter, the MicroVault Tiny drive differs from its peers on several fronts. The most obvious is its tiny size and five colour-coded capacities – 256 MB (orange), 512 MB (violet), 1 GB (blue), 2 GB (green) and 4 GB (purple) – which provide flexible data storage options. The MicroVault Tiny drive comes packaged in a versatile clip-on carry case that can be worn as an accessory, easily attaching to a cell phone case, purse strap, key chain, or clipped onto a notebook cover.

The MicroVault Tiny drive is preloaded with Virtual Expander, which expands the capacity to virtually store up to three times as much data by automatically compressing and decompressing files.

According to Mr. Sharma, the industry has come a long way from the once bulky, utilitarian drives to Sony's small wonder.  Initially seen as a device craved by early adopters, USB portable storage drives have become as mainstream as digital cameras and MP3 players – due in part to their ease of use and universal application.

Sony has been promoting USB drives since their inception, launching the MicroVault line in 2001, with drives about the length of an index finger, and storage capacities maxing out at 64 MB. Since then, the company has developed more compact drives with greater storage capacities, adding style along the way.

Sony's latest MicroVault family also features the Classic, Fingerprint Access and Micro Vault PRO lines – all offering a wide range of capacities and functional benefits.

The Micro Vault Tiny is now shipping in capacities of 256MB, 512MB, 1GB and 2GB, with a 4GB model planned for release in September. The drives have manufacturers' suggested retail prices (MSRP) of $34.99, $69.99, $89.99, $144.99 and $289.99, respectively.

About Sony of Canada Ltd.

Established in 1955, Sony of Canada Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, a world leader in the manufacture and marketing of electronic and computer products for consumer, business, electronics publishing and multimedia applications on a global scale. With headquarters in Toronto, sales offices in Vancouver and Montreal and distribution centres in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Whitby, Ontario, approximately 1,000 employees support 77 Sony stores and a network of more than 500 authorized dealers across Canada.

For further information, please visit us at www.sony.ca, www.thesonystore.ca, www.sonybiz.ca or www.sonystyle.ca, Sony's product information and e-commerce Web site, or contact:

John B. Challinor II   APR    
General Manager, Advertising   
& Corporate Communications    
Sony of Canada Ltd.     
(416) 495-3740     
john_challinor@sony.ca

Shawna Rossi
Senior Counsellor
Technology Practice
Silverhammer Public Relations
(416) 324-2024, Ext. 3 
shawna_rossi@silver-hammer.com

[back to press release]