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For more information, contact: A&R Partners for Be, Incorporated Lisa Auslen, 650/762-2805 lauslen@arpartners.com In Europe: Be Incorporated Marie-Francoise Lelong-Weinberg, +33 (0)1 55 91 77 36 mflelong@beeurope.com Be Unveils BeIA, New Software Platform for Internet Appliances and Entertainment Devices BeIA Delivers Superior Performance and Flexibility for Next-Generation Post-PC Lifestyle Devices Demo 2000 Conference, Indian Wells, Calif. - February 7, 2000 - Be Incorporated (Nasdaq: BEOS) today formally announced BeIA™, previously known by the code name Stinger, its software platform for appliances that deliver information and entertainment over the Internet. At the basis of these devices is the need for a simple, intuitive means of accessing the Internet without the cost, complexity and hassles often associated with personal computers. Characterized by exceptional media handling, unfaltering stability, and broad application flexibility, devices based on the BeIA platform will deliver the richest possible web experience to consumers at a low cost and with the ease of use typical of popular consumer electronics appliances. BeIA: Software Platform for the Post-PC Era BeIA is a device-independent software platform for post-PC era Internet appliances focused on the personalization of multimedia and information-rich products that enhance a user's lifestyle. The design flexibility of BeIA allows Internet appliances to be configured as information devices such as personal online portals or financial management monitors. The adaptive configuration of BeIA also extends into entertainment devices such as movie or music download and playback systems. "Today, consumers predominantly use general-purpose PCs to access the Internet, send and receive e-mail and conduct e-commerce transactions, but this is changing rapidly. While PCs have become an accepted tool for both work and play, for many people PCs are still viewed as complex, intimidating and unstable. They lack the 'instant on' gratification and media handling capabilities consumers have grown to expect from their home appliances such as televisions and other audio and stereo equipment," said Jean-Louis Gassée, chairman and chief executive officer of Be. "To truly make computing technology pervasive in the home, a new model for lifestyle devices is required. Our new BeIA platform is a foundation for that model." "The utility and pervasiveness of the Internet has created a need for a variety of targeted, affordable and easy-to-use devices other than the PC," said IDC consumer device analyst Bryan Ma. "IDC believes that Information Appliances (IAs) will address the needs of not only the technophobe, but also the PC user who will use IAs in an adjunct role in a number of different usage scenarios." A just-finished IDC report forecasts the worldwide information appliance market to grow from 11 million units and $2.4 billion in 1999 to a market of 89 million units and $17.8 billion in 2004. Support from Technology Leaders Be has already announced partnerships in support of the BeIA platform with leading hardware and system manufacturers including Compaq, National Semiconductor, Qubit and leading motherboard manufacturer First International Computer (FIC) of Taiwan. Additionally, Be has developed relationships with technology partners to provide the most complete, robust and media-rich experience, including Opera Software and RealNetworks. Internet Appliances - The Requirements for Success The Internet appliance is a new paradigm in computing without a required or established cartel of hardware reference designs or chip sets. The openness and flexibility of this new computing model more closely resembles the "consumer electronics" market than the "computing electronics" market, with a broader set of players and consumer choices. To be a player in the Internet appliance space, vendors need to deliver the user experience of high-quality, advanced technology with the operational simplicity of basic consumer electronics. BeIA delivers these characteristics for both consumers and appliance vendors: Ultra stable environment with minimal boot times BeIA delivers instant-on and fail-safe reliability that consumers have grown to expect from consumer technology devices such as television and cell phones. Small footprint with highly scalable, modular environment BeIA's small footprint allows vendors to take advantage of this powerful platform with popular mobile and personal Internet appliances. Vendors can leverage their design investments with BeIA across multiple devices and multiple architectures. As a complete platform, featuring the Opera browser, RealPlayer and a comprehensive set of media services, BeIA consumes less than eight megabytes of persistent storage. Media savvy Internet appliance content is inherently media-rich and highly interactive in nature, both of which are core attributes of BeIA's architecture. Branded Internet access BeIA enables channel branding similar to what cable television has done with popular news programming such as CNN. Service providers can brand an Internet appliance as a transparent extension of their website or portal to increase customer traffic and brand affinity by using the Internet to deliver their own Internet channel. Rich set of de facto standards Internet appliances need to be standards-rich to protect consumer hardware investments as well as reducing developer's implementation cost and speeding time-to-market. Devices Designed for Form and Function Unlike PCs, which offer a generic set of features for virtually every application, lifestyle devices will more commonly serve as single function devices that excel in a specific area of focus. Therefore, an entertainment device will have a different look and feel and set of functions than a device from a financial services company that is designed to support online investing. To exploit the capabilities and form factor of the device, BeIA offers a powerful and configurable interface and the ability to offer custom application services, regardless of the chipset, motherboard or hardware OEM. Architected for Performance and Portability BeIA is a robust, multi-layered architecture designed to offer application developers maximum design flexibility and to minimize the porting effort for hardware manufacturers to deliver a full-featured lifestyle experience. At the foundation of BeIA are a core set of system functions, leveraged from BeOS, which talk directly to the individual hardware designs. These functions perform tasks such as low-level I/O, memory and media management. Coupled with these core functions is a rich API development layer allowing ultimate control over look and feel. As customization of Internet appliances is key to their popularity, Be offers a developer design kit that requires no more programming experience than HTML yet allows full control over look and feel, buttons, logos and other elements of product branding. Layered above the core functions are an integrated Internet browser and a Java virtual machine, respectively. These applications can easily and efficiently interface with the Internet appliance through HTML, Java and JavaScript. The user interface is fully configurable at these levels and offers transparent access to the Internet. At the heart of most Internet appliances is the reliance on audio and video multimedia. The next level of the BeIA platform focuses on streaming media services. Working in concert with the core system functions, these media services handle conversion, buffering, special I/O and presentation. This level also supports downloadable codecs to take advantage of the latest multimedia technology standards. At the highest level of the BeIA architecture lie application services and integration services. The application services capitalize on either client-side or host-side services to complement the tailored offering of the Internet appliance. These services can include, among other things, e-mail support, file viewing and a personal information manager. By offering these services, BeIA frees the vendor from developing applications outside their area of expertise and help expedite time to market. The integration services allow all of the product's capabilities to appear unified and work in concert. The services also enable updates and upgrades as well as information synchronization. Support for Industry Standards Building on its heritage as a desktop operating system with rich multimedia capabilities, BeIA supports a wide range of industry standards, offering OEMs the opportunity to take advantage of PC technology and allowing application developers to tap into an existing set of multimedia resources. Devices can be configured with the following standards: Web HTML 4.0, XML, JavaScript (ECMAScript), SSL 2.0 and 3.0, CSS 1 & 2 Streaming media RealNetworks RealSystem G2, Macromedia Flash Video QuickTime, AVI, MPEG1, Cinepak, Intel Indeo Audio MP3, major PC formats Device support USB, IEEE 1394, analog I/O, CD reading and writing, Windows file system support Languages C++ PersonalJava Availability Be expects to make BeIA available to device manufacturers later in Q1 2000. Commercial products based on the BeIA platform are expected to begin shipping in Q2 2000. About Be Incorporated Founded in 1990, Be Incorporated creates software platforms that enable rich media and web experiences on Internet appliances and personal computers. Be's headquarters are in Menlo Park, California, with offices in Paris and Tokyo. It is publicly traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol BEOS. Be can be found on the web at http://www.be.com/. ### Be Incorporated Forward-Looking Statements The statements contained in this Press Release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" including without limitation statements regarding plans for product and reference platform development and release, the market for Internet appliances, future availability and performance of BeIA and third party devices and applications, including Internet appliances, market penetration and market acceptance of BeIA in the Internet appliance market, and the benefit of BeIA to OEMs and Internet appliance manufacturers. Actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks facing Be Incorporated or actual results differing from the assumptions underlying such statements. Such risks and assumptions include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to product development, the competition and market acceptance of BeIA for the Internet appliances market, and our ability to meet OEM requirements and establish strategic relationships with OEMs and Internet appliance manufacturers. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by the "Risk Factors" and other cautionary statements included in Be Incorporated's prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 on July 20, 1999 (Commission File No. 333-77855), and other public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Be, BeOS and BeIA are trademarks or registered trademarks of Be Incorporated in the United States and other countries. Other brand product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders. All rights reserved. Editor's Note: Product shots can be found at ftp://209.239.171.239/be. Enter the folder named "Product Images" then the folder named "Screen shots."

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