Skype hits Wal-Mart shelves

The two-day outage didn't slow down the Luxembourg VoIP provider owned by eBay. Skype this week cut a deal to have its certified hardware carried in 1,800 Wal-Mart stores. The gear line will encompass headsets, Web cams, handsets and the first prepaid Skype calling cards in the United States, according to Skype.

Skype claims to have roughly 200 million registered users, 9 million of whom are using the IP voice service at any one time for phone calls or instant messages. Around 50 manufacturers make certified Skype gear. Two prepaid card options will be offered at Wal-Marts; one for $20 that covers international calls; another for a three month unlimited North American calling plan for $8.85.

Skype has traditional two-way service, as well as one-way options for just incoming or outgoing calls, i.e., "Skype in" or "Skype out." The whole shebang was wiped out two weeks ago when a software glitch took the network down in a massive simultaneous user reboot. Shelf space with the largest retailer in the known solar system will add further strain to Skype's network valves. It will be interesting to see what happens to the network after Christmas. 

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