Wal-Mart to sell Skype

Filed under: Business, Internet, Utilities, VoIP

Wal-Mart to sell Skype

by Peter White May 14th 2007

Skype is pretty big, but one of the problems they're noticing is that that way too much of their $79 Million first quarter revenue comes from overseas markets. They're simply not getting enough US customers. But they've put together a solid plan based on an indisputable fact, and it may very well turn their fortunes around. That fact is as follows:

Everyone in America shops at Wal-Mart. Man up and admit to it. You do. And why wouldn't you? It's the only store in the world where you can simultaneously buy everything you could ever possibly want for dirt cheap AND feel like you're better than everyone else in the building. Again, admit it. You walk inside and think 'Man, look at all these losers shopping at Wal-Mart.' Sure, you're shopping there, but you're not like these people...

That's right, Skype is going to be sold at Wal-Mart. Now, admittedly, most people are going to Wal-Mart looking for cheap socks and end tables, not state of the art phone technology, but it can't hurt. If nothing else, it should serve to make the public more aware of the product. Wal-Mart will offer nine different Skype certified hardware devices, as well as pre-paid Skype cards. Skype has been (slowly) growing for the last while, but not to the extent that eBay had hoped for when they purchased it for $4.2 Billion. However, it will be tough for Skype to really strike it rich in the mainstream US markets without some tweaking. While it may be a better system than VoIP, the hardware is a tad more complicated for the user to set up. But most important and obvious would be the 911 services that are currently unavailable. But I'm sure that'll be overlooked. Come on, it's at Wal-Mart. That means it has to be a top quality product, right?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ThunkDifferent.com said 1:17PM on 5-14-2007

Are they simply selling Skype products and increasing the awareness of the product 9de facto advert) or are they "selling" skype?

If so, i'd be really excited to "buy" Skype from such a responsible and people-first chain as Wal-mart.

http://ThunkDifferent.com

Doug Weglarz said 1:50PM on 5-14-2007

Almost makes me want to drop Skype...WalMart is far from people-first...

George said 3:13PM on 5-14-2007

Perhaps a more accurate headline would be "Wal-Mart to Attempt to Explain Skype to Uncomprehending Customers, Most of Whom Will Pronounce it 'Sky-Pee'".

Christopher said 7:53PM on 5-14-2007

No, everyone in America does not shop at Wal Mart. The mere placement of a product in Wal Mart does not necessarily enhance product awareness and can in fact detract from the image the company is trying to cultivate.

Pat said 7:53PM on 5-14-2007

I'm a fan of Skype, but why waste your time going to walmart to buy it? Just download it from home and save that gas money.

I doubt that walmart can "sell" anything, last time I went there I was trying to buy simple white gloves in the winter and nobody in the store knew where they were; one person thought he did, but instead he found me latex gloves to clean my bathroom with.

Mysterius said 11:27PM on 5-14-2007

Well, I don't shop often at Walmart, and neither do any of my family members, that I know of. Not that most of them try to avoid it; they just go to cheap Chinese stores instead. Don't know if that's an improvement or not. Personally, I prefer Costco; employee-friendly, customer-friendly, people-friendly, etc.

Tim said 5:40PM on 5-15-2007

STUPIDITY!
Why buy when you can have it for free?

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