Ooma Launches MyPhone, a Modern Landline for Kids as Parents Delay Smartphones

Business

Ooma Launches MyPhone, a Modern Landline for Kids as Parents Delay Smartphones

2026-05-05 17:01 Last Updated At：17:10

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 2026--

Ooma, Inc. (NYSE: OOMA), a smart communications platform for businesses and consumers, today announced the launch of MyPhone TM, a modern landline designed specifically for families with kids, with availability beginning nationwide on Walmart.com and expanding to Walmart stores across the country in the coming months.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260505463355/en/

Across the country, parents are delaying smartphones as concerns grow around social media exposure, excessive screen time, cyberbullying, and unwanted contact from strangers. But many families still want their children to stay connected with friends and relatives — without the distractions and risks that come with smartphones. As a result, families are rediscovering the value of the household landline — a simple way for kids to communicate while avoiding social media, apps, and endless notifications.

MyPhone delivers the solution many parents have been asking for: a modern landline phone service that keeps kids connected with friends and family while giving parents greater visibility, control and peace of mind.

Built on Ooma’s trusted cloud-based home phone platform used by households across North America, MyPhone brings the reliability and scale of a proven communications provider to this fast-growing parenting movement.

“There’s a growing body of research suggesting that delaying smartphone use can be beneficial for younger children. MyPhone brings together the simplicity and safety features parents want for their children with the reliability they expect from Ooma,” said Jim Gustke, senior vice president of marketing at Ooma. “Kids get the freedom to call friends and grandparents, while parents rest assured their child’s phone is designed to keep them safe.”

A Safe and More Complete Phone Experience for Kids

MyPhone combines the simplicity of a home landline with advanced safety and parental controls not typically found in basic children’s calling devices today.

Features include:

Kids enjoy the fun of calling friends and family, while parents benefit from modern safety features and greater visibility into their child’s communication.

Each MyPhone bundle includes an Ooma base station along with a home phone designed for easy use by kids and families and decorative stickers for personalization. Phones are available in multiple colors including white, black, pink, blue and green. The system connects through the base station and can be installed in minutes using a home internet Wi-Fi connection.

MyPhone service costs $7.99 per month plus applicable taxes and fees and will initially be available through Walmart.com at $79.99 plus applicable taxes as well as MyPhone.com and Ooma.com. The product will expand to Walmart stores nationwide by fall of 2026, along with other retailers.

Parents and families can learn more about MyPhone, explore available phone options and get started at www.myphone.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute “forward-looking statements.” The forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, statements related to the functionality, features and benefits of MyPhone. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in Ooma’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026, filed on April 3, 2026, and in its subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Ooma undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Ooma

Ooma (NYSE: OOMA) delivers phone, messaging, video and advanced communications services that are easy to implement and provide great value. Founded in 2003, the company offers Ooma Office for small to medium-sized businesses seeking enterprise-grade features designed for their needs; Ooma AirDial for any business looking to replace aging and increasingly expensive copper phone lines; Ooma 2600Hz for businesses that provide their own communications solutions built on an outsourced underlying platform; and Ooma Telo for residential consumers who value a landline experience at a more affordable price point. Ooma’s award-winning solutions power more than 2 million users today. Learn more at www.ooma.com in the United States or www.ooma.ca in Canada.

Inside the cruise ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak

PRAIA, Cape Verde (AP) — The nearly 150 people aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Cape Verde have been mostly confined to their cabins, according to footage obtained by The Associated Press, after three passengers died and at least four others were left ill in a suspected hantavirus outbreak.

The MV Hondius, a Dutch ship on a weekslong polar cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and several isolated islands in the South Atlantic, has been waiting for help after authorities on the island of Cape Verde, off the West African coast, refused to allow passengers to disembark due to public health concerns.

Footage showed the ship's decks mostly deserted, with only a few people wearing medical masks moving about. Common halls were empty as passengers were isolated in their cabins. At least five people with full protective gear, white overalls, boots, and face masks, were seen disembarking from the ship into a small vessel.

The World Health Organization said Monday passengers were asked to stay in their cabins and “limit their risk while disinfection and other measures are being taken.”

Authorities in Cape Verde sent teams of doctors, surgeons, nurses and laboratory specialists to provide the vessel with medical support.

Officials in Cape Verde’s capital of Praia, a city of less than 200,000 people, said they have stepped up safety protocols, particularly near the port, as a precautionary measure against the rodent-borne illness that WHO says may be transmitted between people, though that is rare.

It remains unclear when the sick people on board would be evacuated. The WHO said late Monday they would soon be evacuated to the Netherlands for medical care.

The ship’s Netherlands-based operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said it would consider moving the vessel to one of the Spanish islands, Tenerife or the port of Las Palmas, if it can’t evacuate passengers to Cape Verde.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the plan for now is for the ship “to continue on to the Canary Islands.”

“We’re working with Spanish authorities, who will welcome the ship,” Kerkhove said.

She also stressed there are no other people with symptoms on board and that “once the two sick individuals on board are medically evacuated, then the ship can move.” Earlier, authorities in Cape Verde said three individuals on the ship reported mild symptoms.

However, the Spanish health ministry said in a statement Tuesday it was “conducting close monitoring, together with the World Health Organization and other involved countries, of the situation on the ship ... (and) the most appropriate port of call will be decided. Until then, the Ministry of Health will not adopt any decision, as we have informed the World Health Organization.”

Meanwhile, Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement late Monday the atmosphere on board “remains calm, with passengers generally composed” and that the response plan implemented on board was at the highest level, 3, and includes isolation measures, hygiene protocols, and medical monitoring.

The ship left Ushuaia in southern Argentina on April 1, according to Argentine provincial authorities.

Although health officials in Ushuaia have said they confirmed no passengers had hantavirus symptoms when the ship departed, symptoms can appear up to eight weeks after exposure, Juan Facundo Petrina, director of epidemiology for Tierra del Fuego province, told the AP in an interview from Ushuaia.

The WHO said Monday night that, as of then, no new people on the ship had shown symptoms of the virus, but the situation is being “carefully monitored” for further developments.

“The outbreak is being managed through coordinated international response, and includes in-depth investigations, case isolation and care, medical evacuation and laboratory investigations,” the WHO has also said.

Cape Verde’s National Director of Health Angela Gomes told the state-run Radiotelevisao Caboverdiana radio that authorities are focused on guaranteeing “the maximum level of safety” for the local population.

"And for this reason, all assistance is being provided with personal protective equipment, with maximum protection, both to our medical team, but also to the entire team that assists the medical team in transporting it to the vessel,” said Gomes.