Just when you thought internet telephony was dying a slow death from Verizon poisoning, Walmart steps in with an entire section of the store devoted to Skype electronics. Somewhere, we can hear Vonage weeping. Anyway, from MSNBC:

“We think there will be a lot of Wal-Mart shoppers who will not be familiar with Skype,” said Don Albert, general manager for Skype North America, a unit of eBay Inc.

“We have worked with Wal-Mart to describe Skype simply in the display,” Albert said, noting that the products may vary from store to store, depending on the market. “In more tech-savvy areas, you may see higher-end Skype certified hardware.”

The Skype section will feature pre-paid calling cards as well as cordless phones and other goodies from Motorola Inc., Plantronics Inc., Logitech International SA, Royal Philips Electronics NV and so on. —MEGHANN MARCO

Wal-Mart to sell Skype phone gear [MSNBC]
(Photo: Ryan Fanshaw)

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