Skype Goes to Wal-Mart

Skype has officially gone mainstream. The eBay company said today its VoIP brand is now on the shelves of 1,800 Wal-Mart stores in the U.S.

Two Skype calling cards and nine "Skype Certified" devices (webcams, handsets and headsets) new appear alongside Vonage in Wal-Mart's Internet Communications section.

Wal-mart is the first retail store in the U.S to sell Skype calling cards. One of the two cards now available is worth $20 in metered Skype International calling. The other costs $8.80 and buys three months of unlimited calling to any phone in the U.S. and Canada via the SkypeOut service.

The hardware comes from such fine vendors as Plantronics, Philips and Logitech.

Wal-mart says it's adding Skype "to address the growing popularity and demand for Internet communications among U.S. consumers." The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIAA) says 9.9 percent of U.S. landlines were being used for VoIP in 2006, a percentage that will rise to 34 percent by 2010. Skype says it has 196 million registered users around the world.

Skype added 25 million users in the first quarter of 2007, a growth of 14 percent over the previous quarter. In the last quarter of 2006, Skype added 35 million new users for a growth of 26 percent over the previous quarter.

Comments

Post a comment Post a comment

0 / 1000 max characters