Service a few months online
Microsoft makes Skype completely tight
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Chatting, sending pictures and video telephony are functions for which there are now many providers. Most smartphones already master them from work. The importance of Skype has decreased significantly over time. Now the final end is close.
Microsoft will set the operation of his video telephony program Skype. This was announced on the short messages of Skype. “Skype will no longer be available from May 2025,” said the post on X. In the next few days, users could register with their Skype account for free at Microsoft Teams to stay connected to all their chats and contacts.
Skype was founded in 2003 by the Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and the Danish entrepreneur Janus Friis in Luxembourg. For the first time, the service enabled a mass audience free language and video calls via the Internet. It was particularly popular for international communication because it was dealing with high telephone costs.
In his best times, Skype had several hundred million users worldwide per month. Finally, according to the Statistics Service Similar Web, the number was only around 30 million users per month. Skype users can not only call other Skype users, but also make calls to landline and mobile phone numbers. However, a Skype credit or a subscription is required.
Pandemie bothered Skype
Microsoft bought Skype in 2011 for $ 8.5 billion and integrated it into its ecosystem, for example into the Windows operating system and the office software Office. Despite this integration, Microsoft Skype was not able to permanently establish as a leading communication service.
The introduction of Microsoft Teams in 2017 not only opened a competition within the group, but also marked the beginning of the decline of Skype. The number of users has decreased significantly.
Skype lost market shares in competitors such as zoom or WhatsApp, especially during the Corona pandemic. However, Microsoft Teams has now established itself as one of the leading providers in the market for collaboration software and plays a central role in corporate communication.