Skype at WAL*MART

Was surprised to not see a lot of buzz on Techmeme this morning about the press release regarding Wal-Mart to display Skype phone gear.

This is huge for Skype and really puts them front-n-center in VoIP. The plan is to rollout accessories and calling cards for Skype to ~1,800 of their 3,300 US stores.

I’ve talked to a few people this morning about this after reading a small article in The Wall Street Journal. Reactions ranged from an elitist “harumph…who shops for technology at Walmart?” to “This really puts Skype telephony on the map.“

I agree with the latter statement. I’ve evangelized Skype to numerous groups and individuals with great success and it has materially changed their ability to easily and affordably talk with people (and loved ones as I’ve helped some seniors get started with Skype so they could see their grandchildren growing up in other countries for example).

My hope is that this also shifts the mindset of telephony products vendors who’ve pretty much abdicated the delivery of Skype phones to either Asian or geeky product providers. Simplicity is what will continue to accelerate VoIP and it’s still a little too “bit-twiddling” for Joe SixPack.