Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
Attention WalMart (and Circuit City) customers….
AT&T today announced agreements with Circuit City and Wal-Mart to sell AT&T U-verseSM TV and AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet in more than 600 retail locations beginning this month.
Source: gigaom.com
AT&T plans to sell its triple-play U-verse services through more than 600 Circuit City and Wal-Mart retail stores beginning this month. There are a few things about this plan that just don’t make sense. First, the choice of stores, namely the floundering Circuit City, is perplexing. Why not a more successful electronics retailer such as Best Buy, which already is stocking the iPhone and working to sell other services contracts?
The other odd thing about this announcement is the idea that consumers will go to a retail location to learn about their broadband, voice and video services rather than through a traditional television, mailing or online ad campaign. Essentially this is another, potentially more interactive form of advertising, which could be a good thing given the current cable attack ads around HD channel delivery and what qualifies as a fiber network. However, the strategy looks expensive, and it seems to indicate that AT&T is having a hard time signing up the 1 million U-verse subscribers it says it will have by the end of the year.
Source: voipcentral.org
When two bigwigs club up together, the outcome is something encouraging. Skype has joined hands with Wal-Mart in a distribution deal to enable customers pick up Skype products from the retailers in USA.
As per the deal, Wal-Mart will sell a number of Skype-certified products such as webcams, headsets and handsets from the recognized manufacturers including Plantronics, Philips, and Logitech in more than 1800 Wal-Mart stores. These products allow customers to enjoy Skype services such as voice, video calls and instant messaging.
Don Albert, Vice President and General Manager of Skype North America briefed,
We applaud Wal-Mart for recognizing the popularity of Skype and making it more accessible to Wal-Mart shoppers. This relationship with Wal-Mart will increase exposure for Skype and our hardware partners in a single dedicated Internet communications section.
Wal-Mart will sell Skype certified headsets for $15, webcams for $25 and handsets for $30 from different hardware developers. In addition to Skype products, the customers can also get pre-paid Skype cards for $20.
Skype is not the first company to sell its products in Wal-Mart stores. Vonage has also associated with Wal-Mart to sell its products. It means that VoIP players are now joining with retailers to hit the mass market.
Nearly 9.9 percent of all landlines in USA were VoIP lines last year. It would touch 34.1 percent in the next three years. Therefore, it is highly beneficial for the VoIP players to get associated with retailers to cater the demand for VoIP products.
Source: voipcentral.org
Gone are days when VoIP was looked upon an elite technology restricted to the geeks. Now, VoIP is mass technology. In a gesture to further popularize the VoIP services among the common man, Skype has reached out a distribution deal with retail-giant Wal-Mart this week.
It is beneficial for both Skype and Wal-Mart. From now on, the Wal-Mart customers can get Skype-certified headsets, webcams and handsets from recognized manufacturers including Plantronics, Philips, and Logitech in more than 1800 Wal-Mart stores.
These products allows customers to enjoy Skype services such as voice, video calls and instant messaging.
As per the agreement, Wal-Mart will sell Skype certified headsets for $15, webcams for $25 and handsets for $30 from different hardware developers.
In addition to Skype products, the customers can also get pre-paid Skype cards for $20.
Skype is not the first company to sell its products in Wal-Mart stores. Vonage has also associated with Wal-Mart to sell its products. It means that VoIP players are now joining with retailers to hit the mass market.
Nearly 9.9 percent of all landlines in USA were VoIP lines last year. It would touch 34.1 percent in the next three years. Therefore, it is highly beneficial for the VoIP players to get associated with retailers to cater the demand for VoIP products.
Source: voipcentral.org
I came to know that Vonage has reached out an agreement with retail giant Wal-Mart to enhance its VoIP services in Canada, one of the major markets of VoIP. A good deal for Vonage, though I have no financial details of the agreement.
As per the mutual agreement, Wal-Mart would sell Vonage VoIP phones in its all most all the 1, 3000 retail outlets throughout Canada. Interestingly, it is for the time that Wal-Mart stores will have bunch of VoIP phones, no matter it is Vonage phones.
It is an open secret that Vonage, which pioneered in popularizing the concept of VoIP in the world, is now one of the worst strugglers in the current market with increasing customer churns and rapid decline in profit rates. With Wal-Mart ready to promote Vonage phones in Canada, the company is likely get a major boost in Canada market.
