Microsoft has announced that it will stop the once so popular on 5 May after 14 years Video chat service Skype. This is going on.
Microsoft stops Skype
Microsoft took over Skype in 2011 for no less than 8.5 billion dollars. At its peak, Skype had more than 300 million monthly active users and the name ‘Skype’ was synonymous with speech and video calls via the internet. However, the service became less and less relevant in recent years and the number of active users dropped to around 36 million in 2023. At the same time, competitors such as Zoom, WhatsApp and Microsoft’s own teams won more and more popularity.
Teams has since grown to 320 million monthly users and thus more than surpasses the number of Skype users that is still over. The fact that Microsoft Skype stops is apparently part of a broader plan to prioritize artificial intelligence functions within teams. Employees who are currently working on Skype will therefore be transferred to other projects and will therefore not be fired.
VoIP technology
Skype played an important role in the popularization of VoIP technology (Voice over Internet Protocol), which enabled companies and individuals to connect with minimal costs worldwide. At the same time, it was an early test environment for AI-controlled real-time translation, a function that Microsoft showed in a extensive demonstration in 2014.
There are all kinds of causes that ensured that Skype eventually became more and more outdated. Among other things, the many changes in the user interface, reliability problems, thoughtless social media-like functions and the gradual shift to business. But especially the inability to keep track of newer competitors, especially during the COVID-19 Pandemie, led to Skype now outdated and actually stops.
Now that Skype stops and Microsoft is completing the closure process, existing Skype users have the time until 5 May to migrate their data and contact persons to teams, or to look for alternative solutions.
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