Some LONG awaited news:
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Tuesday January 19, 8:39 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Net2Phone to Launch Internet Shopping Portal Powered by IP Telephony
New E-Commerce Portal, EZSurf, to start with over 1,000,000 users Further globalizes the Internet with services aimed directly at aiding international users to complete online sales
HACKENSACK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 1999-- IDT's (NASDAQ: IDTC - news) Net2Phone today announced that it will launch the first web shopping portal powered by Internet telephony. The new site, EZSurf·(www.ezsurf.com), will integrate voice, graphics, and eventually video and push technology to enhance the online shopper's experience.
EZSurf provides users, particularly those living outside the U.S., with the value-added information needed to buy products online. As the international market increasingly becomes a focus in truly globalizing e-commerce, EZSurf will provide visitors with an array of retailer sites as well as important information regarding each vendor, such as multiple payment options (including billing against their Net2Phone accounts), availability of global shipping, ability to track orders online, etc. Additionally, by incorporating IP telephony communication services, visitors will be able to contact retailers via voice interaction in real time without the need to visit the retailer's web site. EZSurf will be launched on February 1, 1999, and will be marketed directly to over 1,000,000 Net2Phone users and through online advertising.
''It is clear that customers have been spending more time online, but we want to ensure that they actually make their purchases online as well,'' said David Greenblatt, Chief Operating Officer of Net2Phone. ''Surfers can spend up to an hour just looking for critical information such as e-mail addresses, phone numbers and international shipping possibilities, and EZSurf gives users value-added content combined with Internet telephony services to make the user's experience online significantly easier and faster. We can now turn many of those online window shoppers into actual buyers.''
Multimedia Features
IDT's premier Internet telephony services, Net2Phone·and Click2Talk· will be fully integrated into EZSurf, allowing visitors to call retailers, friends and family via the Internet. Using Net2Phone and Click2Talk, recipients do not need a computer in order to receive telephone calls. Net2Phone enables voice data to be carried over the Internet's packet switched network until it reaches traditional telephone infrastructure. There the signal is converted to the circuit switched network used by telephones, enabling the signal to be received by any phone worldwide.
Other informational portals, such as Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO - news) and Excite (NASDAQ: XCIT - news) have already integrated Net2Phone and Click2Talk into their directories. EZSurf gives users an additional element of comfort by letting the users contact retailers directly from the web without having to visit their sites while already online.
Additionally, IDT will introduce and promote EZSurf to its current customers, and will embed an EZSurf icon into the next release of the Net2Phone client software, which will be bundled into more than 30 million packages through relationships with IBM (NYSE: IBM - news), Creative Labs (NASDAQ: CREAF - news), Packard Bell/NEC Europe and others.
EZSurf will also feature Click2CallMe· IDT's new web-based callback service. This service uses regular telephone lines for voice traffic and is designed for customers who do not have multimedia PCs.
When an individual clicks on the Click2CallMe button a data entry panel opens, prompting the customer to enter his/her telephone number and schedule the time for his/her callback. The call server places a call over the telephone network to the requested number (the customer) at the scheduled time. The customer is asked for confirmation and the call server places a call over the telephone network to the help/sales desk and connects the two parties.
Solve Credit Card Fears
With 89% of computer users worrying about transactional security (Dell/Louis Harris & Associates poll), and 62% of cybershoppers so frustrated they've aborted a transaction (Zona Research), EZSurf presents unique capabilities for users to speak to a ''live'' human representative, resolving security fears and adding a human element to an increasingly digitized universe.
Help for International Users
Web sites frequently do not take international users into account when selling their products online. EZSurf will provide information regarding international shipping, multiple payment options, and multilingual support, enabling the globalization of business on the web. Furthermore, Click2Talk will allow users around the world to speak with the retailer from anywhere FREE OF CHARGE using U.S. toll-free numbers. Hundreds of thousands of calls have been placed through Net2Phone to businesses worldwide, notably computer companies, airlines, financial institutions, and online trading companies such as Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC - news), American Airlines, British Airways (NYSE:BAB - news), China Airlines, Citibank, Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER - news), E-Trade (NASDAQ: EGRP - news), Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCH - news), Discover Card, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT - news), AOL (NYSE:AOL - news), IBM (NYSE:IBM - news), Compaq (NYSE:CPQ - news), 3COM (NASDAQ: COMS - news), Cybrerian Outpost (NASDAQ: COOL - news), Kmart (NYSE: KM - news), CompUSA (NYSE:CPU - news), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN - news), General Motors (NYSE:GM - news), Hertz (NYSE:HRZ - news), and Microwarehouse. By offering EZSurf, we enable the true globalization of businesses by connecting international customers to merchants at no cost.
Change Point-of-Purchase
Even though many online retailers have gone to extensive lengths to encourage users to purchase online, many users prefer to browse through the site, conduct research and compare values. Users finally place the actual purchase order over the phone, though many sites fail to make a phone number available for ordering. By adding the human element as well as providing additional relevant information, EZSurf helps complete the sale significantly faster and enhance the customer's online experience.
For more information about EZSurf, please call 888-872-1230 or send e-mail to sales@click2talk.com.
IDT is a leading emerging multinational carrier that combines its position as an international telecommunications operator, its experience as an Internet service provider and its leading position in Internet telephony to provide a broad range of telecommunications services to its wholesale and retail customers worldwide. The company provides its customers with integrated and competitively priced international and domestic long distance, pre-paid calling cards, Internet access and, through its Net2Phone product offerings, Internet telephony services including Net2Phone Direct, Net2Fax, and Click2Talk. For more information about IDT's Internet telephony services, please visit www.net2phone.com.
Except for historical information, all of the expectations and assumptions contained in the foregoing are forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, the competitive environment for Internet telephony, changes of rates of all related telco rates and services, legislation that may affect the Internet telephony industry, IDT's ability to operate the services described on a large scale commercial level. For additional information regarding these and other risks associated with the company's business refer to the company's reports filed with the SEC.
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