Get your Skype at WalMart
Wal-Mart is going to start selling nine
Skype-certified hardware devices (and by extension the Skype service) in all of
its stores.
Wal-Mart is going to start selling nine Skype-certified hardware devices (and by extension the Skype service) in all of its stores. The deal also includes Skype pre-paid cards. Wal-Mart is the first retailer in the U.S. to offer Skype’s pre-paid cards that will be sold in $20 denominations.
Skype’s mainstream retail push is coming at a time when the service is showing signs of maturity. In first quarter of 2007, there “was the marginal 1% increase in the Skype-to-Skype usage to around 7.7 billion minutes.”
The downside of this mainstream push by Skype is that it comes with the baggage of expectations. It will be viewed as a low-cost telephony service, and mainstream users will expect 911 services, which if not available can cause legal headaches. Regardless, this move can put pressure on Vonage, and further siphon away long distance minutes from the big phone companies.
WalMart’s press release also includes details of inventory expansion in HDTV, digital cameras, most home theatre goodies.
Posted: Mon - May 14, 2007 at 08:48 AM