Skype Promotion: "Call Your Mother Free of Charge"

Consumers in the U.S. and Canada can take advantage of Internet communications over Skype by placing free SkypeOut calls to any landline or mobile number around the world on Mother's Day (May 13, 2007).

Source: BusinessWire

SAN JOSE, Calif. --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Skype and Intel Corporation announced a joint effort to advance a shared vision of establishing the personal computer as a central and reliable platform for voice and video calling over the Internet. By offering an Intel-sponsored day of free global calling over Skype on Mother’s Day to U.S. and Canadian consumers, the two companies are encouraging U.S. and Canadian users to take advantage of Internet communication via their PCs or laptops. This builds on the success of the Skype Unlimited Calling plan which has enabled thousands of consumers across the U.S. and Canada to save hundreds of dollars on domestic calling since it was introduced in December 2006.

According to a March 2007 In-Stat report entitled U.S. Residential Voice-Over IP Market Dynamics and Market Tracker, the number of VoIP households in the U.S. continued to grow briskly in the fourth quarter, with more than 10.6 million households now using VoIP. In-Stat found that while cable providers drove strong adoption of VoIP, Skype gained significant market share in the quarter, consolidating its leading market position at the expense of its client-based VoIP rivals. The report credits Skype’s innovative and disruptive pricing and product strategy for its success, citing the Skype Unlimited Calling plan for allowing registered users to make unlimited SkypeOut™ calls to any phone number in the U.S. and Canada for a flat, annual subscription fee of just $29.95, almost 90 percent less than traditional calling plans that can cost consumers $24.95 per month or more.

"This initiative builds on our efforts to establish Skype as a standard for Internet communications," said Don Albert, general manager and vice president of Skype North America. "The PC is central to the way consumers and business users connect and collaborate with one another. We’re delighted at how well Skype runs on PCs and laptops featuring Intel® Core 2 Duo processor technology."Consumers in the U.S. and Canada can take advantage of Internet communications over Skype by placing free SkypeOut calls to any landline or mobile number around the world on Mother's Day (May 13, 2007). Sponsored by Intel, the "Gift of Gab" promotion represents the first time that U.S. and Canadian users will be able to make free SkypeOut calls to anywhere in the world for a period of 24 hours. Calls from one registered Skype user to another remain free. Usually, SkypeOut calls are billed at per-minute fees depending on the location called, with rates beginning at the low Skype global dialing rate of 2.1 cents per minute. More information about the "Gift of Gab" is available at www.skype.com/go/giftofgab.

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