Wal-Mart is known to offer almost anything. There are very few products on the market today that are not sold through the big box retailer.

Now, you can even buy Skype’s (News - Alert) PC-to-PC calling products, such as handsets, webcams and other gear, in more than 1,800 Wal-Mart stores.


Skype’s deal to market its products through Wal-Mart is in line with its objective of bringing VoIP to the masses. To start, the company is offering a discount in form of a calling card offering unlimited calling in the US and Canada for three months for $8.85. According to the company, this card was developed by Skype exclusively for Wal-Mart shoppers. With this offer and the wide exposure it gains through Wal-Mart stores, Skype hopes to rope in new customers who may not have given it a try. The discount will also make the service more affordable for the average Wal-Mart customer.

In addition to this offer, customers can also buy a $20 in Skype credit card that allows them to make calls to anywhere in the world. International calls using Skype cost as low as 2.1 cents a minute. However, depending on the country, other fees may also be applicable.

When Skype entered the VoIP arena in 2003, it gained instant recognition by offering free global calling. The only problem with this was the necessity to download special software to your computer and a requirement to use a headset. When the competition heated up, the company started offering unlimited calls to lines in the US and Canada, including a land lines or mobiles, at just $29.95 a year.

The company is also working hard to introduce improved features that will provide a better user interface. For example, the company is working on a technology that allows the user to place calls without switching on their PC.

For Wal-Mart, which has been offering lots of Internet and telecommunications products of late, Skype is another feather in its cap. Wal-Mart has already been featuring a wide range of Internet phones, mobile phones and other communications gadgets.

In fact, Wal-Mart recently opened a new “Internet communications section” and Skype’s products will be showcased in this section. This section also showcases products from Vonage (News - Alert), which is the US’s largest Internet phone company.

Skype, however, does not feel that there will be a clash of interest between the two companies. While Vonage positions itself as a replacement to traditional phone, Skype does not. Vonage offers E-911 services and Skype does not. So there are distinct differences between the two services.

It will be interesting to see how well both of these VoIP providers do now that their products are being sold in one of the largest retail chains in the world.

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Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

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