RSSRadioShack to Sell Skype Kits, Headsets
By Nate Mook | Published November 21, 2005, 11:41 AM
Internet telephony provider Skype has inked its first retail distribution deal in the United States, with RadioShack agreeing to sell a Skype starter kit and accessories across 3,500 stores. The deal gives Skype much-needed access to consumers and could help the service go mainstream.
RadioShack will setup a special Skype kiosk that showcases wireless headsets from Motorola and Logitech, along with a $129 cordless phone from Linksys. The $5 starter kits will come with an earpiece microphone and 30 minutes of Skype calling to any number in the world.
Skype says the RadioShack deal is only the first of many retail sales agreements it plans to secure. Fellow VoIP provider Vonage has taken a similar tactic to expand its customer base, offering kits with routers in a number of brick-and-mortar stores including Best Buy.
The company hopes its low-cost offering will be attractive to consumers. Because Skype runs on a PC, it doesn't require expensive hardware like Vonage. The service also has a free offering, which has already drawn in tens of million of users.
However, Skype has had a tougher time breaking into the U.S. market than it has in Europe and Asia. The company hopes the RadioShack deal will change all that.
"The RadioShack relationship is really our coming to America," said Skype VP of global marketing Saul Klein. In addition to the kiosks, RadioShack will spotlight Skype-enabled products in its catalogs and customer mailings.
Skype was founded by Kazaa creator Niklas Zennstrom and recently acquired by eBay for up to $4.1 billion. Skype will be used to facilitate communication between eBay's buyers and sellers, as well as being integrated with PayPal.
Well Gawd21, Skype is "overpriced junk." (And, it's over-hyped.) I've had nothing but problems with Sk-Yikes!s *fee-based* services. The problems have been so bad that everyone I know, and who has tried to communicate with me via Skype-In/Out, no longer accepts my Skype calls or uses my Skype-In phone number. And if they do accept a Skype call from me, they *invariably* ask that I call back on "a real phone that works." (And that's a fact.)
So regarding any of Sk-Yikes!'s fee-based services: Caveat emptor. (Don't take my word for it; read through the Skype forums. I think you'll see Skype is far more hype than substance.)
Skype + Hype - Customer service = Sk-Yikes!
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|Yeah, theres problems with every service in the world. I personally have never had a problem other than an over charge once. I use Skype everyday. As for being over priced, I am not sure about that. If you would give me some links to cheaper services that would be great. I use Skype in and out. You might want to check out a good pair of headphones. BTW don't list that VOIPBuster crap. It doesn't work and they have sever billing issues.
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|Funny, Skype does not work for me, but VoIPBuster works quite well. In fact, I now open it and not Sk-Yikes! for phone calls. I open Sk-Yikes! only to see if anyone has left a Skype-In voice-mail message. (That's about all I've found that works with Skype.)
I can tolerate being on the "cutting edge" with Skype and thus having far less than perfect service, but I cannot tolerate Skype's lack of customer service for paying customers. (It appears Skype's relatively few paying customers stand in the same service/support line as the millions of non-paying ones. Something is wrong with that picture.)
I paid five Euros to VoIPBuster, now make all U.S. long-distance calls for free, and get my every penny's worth of typically excellent service. The vast majority of people with whom I communicate are quite surprised at how good VoIPBuster (or any VoIP) sounds. With Skype, I pay two cents/minute for every single call, get awful sound quality, and then major hassles when dealing with what Skype tries to pass off as customer support.
Note: I have to wonder what the difference is for you and me. In fact, I've a friend who has also given up on Skype. And, she blames me for recommending it to her. She's found it as frustrating as I. But from my own experiences, I cannot blame her. I'm guilty as charged for even mentioning Skype to her. I certainly recommend it to no one else now.
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|What? Radio Shack? They are still in business? Damn, I haven't been able to buy any electronic parts there in years. They don't sell anything but overpriced junk. They once were a great place to buy hard to find parts. Now they only sell over priced junk and LEDs.
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|thats a good place for them radio shack
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