IDTs TuYo Mobile is it going to Fly?

This month IDT launched it's newest addition to their prepaid product line, TuYo prepaid Mobile. The product is in limited release in certain large metro areas across the US and is distributed through their distribution branch, Union Telecard Alliance. Aimed mainly at the Latin market, they hope to get their popularity from aggressive long distance rates rather than features and plans. At launch they were talking about rates as low as 2 cents a minute to some South American countries like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina and 3 cents to Chile, Columbia, and Venezuela.

Union Telecard and IDT have dominated the prepaid phone card business for the last decade so I don't doubt that they will be able to translate some of their previous success into this product line as well. However, one has to wonder why so late in the game? Others like Boost mobile, Verizon Wireless and many other MVNOs have been doing this for years now! While it is possible that IDT stepped back and watched to see what worked before they took a step into the costly venture, I believe they were just a little slow on the draw.

TuYo may be a little late to the market but knowing IDT and Union Telecard, I know they will make up for lost time and leverage their popular distribution channel enough to catch up with the competition. All I can say is all of you smaller MVNOs, look out because in order to keep up with this product you are going to have to offer big discounts (Union is notorious for low discount products that actually sell) and lower your margins.

I'll keep you posted!

Prepaid Phone Card Industry Turning the Corner!

Since 2001 the prepaid phone card industry has been struggling immensely. Wrought by increased competition (everyone was flocking to the industry to make a quick buck), decreasing margins, poor management (let's face it many people running phone card businesses had little business knowledge) and corruption the industry flowed down hill until 2003 - 2004 when so many companies came crashing down.

Well it looks like that is a thing of the past and phone card business is starting to show signs of a comeback. Consumer confidence is now almost renewed and the decreased competition has driven rates back into an acceptable area where carriers can now actually make a profit! As long as the business keeps their heads about them, and stays at a manageable number hopefully those of us that stuck with it can actually start to make profits again! I am not looking for ridiculous profits, just a reasonable return for my time and efforts. You will never catch me driving a BMW and living in a million dollar home like many people I new in the industry. My profits get reinvested in to the future of my company!

To all others who have stuck it out in this industry, I say congratulations and keep on trucking!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Emma

Skype Goes to Retail Outlets!

I just read that Skype has struck a deal with Radio Shack to sell starter kits at their some 3,000 odd retail locations though-out the US. This makes sense as most of Skypes popularity came from overseas users and now in order to become profitable they need to get the big spending US market. The Kit that Radio Shck will sell comes with the software on CD, headphones, and 30 minutes of PC-to-Phone call time. Not sure of how much it will cost but it probably won't be more than $20 bucks.

I have to be honest I don't think it will sell that much but any sales this can produce is a plus for Skype who has yet to gain widespread acceptance in the United States.

Net2Phone tries this years back with the Yap Phones at Comp USA and that didn't do too well. I wish them luck but I would still recommend keeping their sales efforts online and considering they are now owned bye the powerhouse Ebay, I think new US customer acquisition should not be much of a challenge any more!

Most Popular Phone Card for October

I just finished analyzing my sales for October, yes I am a little behind considering November is almost over, and it looks like the FastLink phone card was by far the best seller. In fact it actualy outsold all other by a 2 to 1 ratio. The suprising thing is that the minutes are not the greatest out there but it seems like users are buying it due to better than average quality. The number 2 seller was the Africall phone card.

Is Prepaid Wireless for Real?

Over the last six months or so there has been a lot of buzz about prepaid wireless products and it seems as if many companies ae starting to jump on the band wagon. I remember a few years back when the industry was buzzing about POS systems and how they would be the hot product that would revolutionize the industry. The reality is four years later nothing ever happened and POS is rarely heard about.

What bugs me is that both Prepaid wireless and POS both require(d) huge up front investments and are both unproven. I can't tell you how many people I knew out there who tried to develop POS systems and wasted huge sums of money on something nobody wanted. I just hope prepaid wireless is not the same type of thing... a great industry buzz word but no real sales potential.

Don't get me wrong I am not against prepaid wireless yet, I just am a little cautious about it right now. However, I am a little more optomistic about this than I was about POS.

Are Blogs a Good Place for Promoting Businesses?

I have been running an internet store for the last two years and I have become very familiar with the art of internet promotion for my wares and how to drive traffice to my site. It seems to me though that over the last few months most blogs, which at first were a nice way to exchange ideas and provide each there own soapbox, are now becoming a spam heaven!

I spend hours on end searching throuh hundreds of spam blogs just to find one of interest. I have no problem with someone trying to get a plug for their site but they should at least try and contribute something of value to the online community.

Why Purchase a Prepaid Phone Card for your Long Distance Calls?

Whenever I mention to people that I sell prepaid phone cards most people usualy look at me like I have two heads. Most people just feel that "why should I purchase a prepaid phone card whan I have long distance at home." The reality is that while the major 1+ home long distance providers are becoming cheaper to call within the US, Canada and parts of Europe, they are still very expensive to make calls to other parts of the world like South America, Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.

For most people I recommend that they try a prepaid card at least once or twice and monitor how much they spent and compare it to one of their prior months phone bills. The reality is that just about everyone who makes regular long distance calls ALWAYS was shocked by how much they saved using a prepaid calling card! One lady who tried this saved over $75 in one month of her standard phone bill!

While I acknowledge that a prepaid phone card might not be the right choice for everyone, it can save certain individuals lots of money! Give it a try and buy a phone card today at http://www.phonecardmania.com and see if it is the right choice for you!