News

SMO Multimedia merging with Skytalk

March 20, 2002

EVERSON, Wash. - SMO Multimediahas signed a letter of intent to merge with Skytalk Communications Inc.(OTCBB:SKLK) next month. SMO and Skytalk will jointly manage the new company and deploy SMO's E-station kiosks in malls, according to an SMO news release.

Robert Pratt, chief executive officer of parent company SMO Retail Solutions, said in the release that SMO has expanded its business plan to include not only malls, but airports and discount retail centers.

SMO spent 18 months developing its multimedia kiosks. It plans to place kiosks in malls in eight cities between September and the end of the year.

Skytalk, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, publishes Canadian airport magazines and directories, according to information obtained from its Web site.

KIOSKmarketplace reported in April that SMO Multimedia had entered a joint venture with Cybertotems in which both partners owned equal shares of the company. SMO provided software and contacts with shopping malls while Cybertotems provided the hardware and deployment expertise. (See "Picking up the pieces".)

Pratt had said that Cybertotems contributed $1 million in funding for the venture.

In May, Everson, Wash.-based SMO and kiosk maker CyberTotems announced a new kiosk system called Center Mall. The  interactive touchscreen kiosks offer coupons, gift cards, mall-wide rewards programs, mall mapping, and rich media presentations on high definition plasma displays.

No information was available on how the merger will affect the Cybertotems-SMO partnership.

Pratt had a rough time obtaining financing for the company he started in 1999, KIOSKmarketplace reported. A deal with Enter Tech worth $10 million fell through in October 2000, when Enter Tech was unable to raise all the funds.

SMO makes retail store products available on kiosks and online at shoppingmallonline.com. The kiosks, called E-Stations, are designed to provide search capabilities and software-tracking to benefit mall developers, retailers, and consumers.