Could you hold, my babies crying> Net2Phone Launches First Multimedia Shopping Portal
February 2, 1999
HACKENSACK, N.J.--(BUSINESS
WIRE)
Easysurf.com is the first
e-commerce portal to be powered
by IP
Telephony Enhanced features help
web users buy products online
IDT's (NASDAQ: IDTC) Net2Phone
today launched easysurf.com
(www.easysurf.com or
www.ezsurf.com), the first web
shopping portal powered by
Internet telephony.
Easysurf.com allows visitors to
learn about online merchants'
services and communicate with
them through direct voice
interaction. Easysurf.com gives
users added convenience by
offering vital information about
multiple merchants without the
need to visit each vendor's site. For
example, easysurf.com lets users
know if a site offers secure
transactions, whether it is
multi-lingual and what sort of return
policy it honors. The site is the only
shopping portal giving users the
ability to use Internet telephony
services to make their experience
online significantly easier.
By incorporating Net2Phone's
multimedia services, visitors are
able to contact retailers free of
charge via voice interaction without
having to visit a company's web
site. Additionally, with 89% of
computer users worrying about
transactional security (Dell/Louis
Harris & Associates poll),
easysurf.com 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. Easysurf.com
provides three communications
tools that allow web shoppers to
reach a sales or customer service
representative. They are:
-- Click2Talk, giving customers the
ability to talk to an e-tailer's
sales or customer service
representative over the Internet
using
a PC and Net2Phone's free Internet
telephony software.
-- Click2CallMe, enabling the
customer to request a call back
from
the e-tailer at a designated time
-- Click2Mail, letting customers
send an e-mail message to any
e-tailer directly from easysurf.com.
For example, if someone is logged
on to her computer in Moscow and
wants to send tulips to her Aunt
Minnie in Paris, she can visit the
easysurf.com web site. She checks
the list of vendors within the
category of "Gift and Flowers," and
notes that 1-800-FLOWERS offers
global shipping, accepts her credit
card, and will even give her
frequent flier miles on United
Airlines. She clicks on the
"Click2Talk" option to be connected
to a 1-800-FLOWERS specialist,
where she asks about prices on the
tulips, confirms that the orange
ones that she loves are in season
and can be shipped to Aunt Minnie
in time for Valentine's Day all
without leaving the easysurf.com
web site.
Through online advertising and
direct marketing campaigns to
already existing Net2Phone users,
easysurf.com will be marketed to
millions of web surfers who can
take advantage of value-added
information needed to buy products
online. Additionally, IDT will
introduce and promote
easysurf.com to its current
customers, and will embed an
easysurf.com icon into the next
release of the Net2Phone client
software, which is expected to be
bundled worldwide through
relationships with IBM (NYSE: IBM),
Creative Labs (NASDAQ: CREAF),
Packard Bell/NEC Europe and
others.
"Web surfers who shop online are
looking for convenience and low
prices. With easysurf.com, we've
created a way for customers to
rapidly be connected to a retailer's
customer service representative
without having to jump from page
to page looking for a 1-800 number
or where to send an email," said
David Greenblatt, Chief Operating
Officer of Net2Phone. "Businesses
can now expand their efforts
globally to reach their customers to
ensure 100% shopping
satisfaction."
For more information about
easysurf.com, 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.
<<Business Wire, 02-01-99, 08:17
Eastern>>
CONTACT: IDT Public Relations,
Hackensack | Sarah Hofstetter |
201-928-2882 | or | IDT Investor
Relations, Hackensack | Janine
Kutliroff | 201-928-4391
[Copyright 1999, Business Wire] |
