Microsoft turns off from May Skype – DiePresse.com
Skype is considered a pioneer for video telephony. Service has been part of Microsoft since 2011. And the software company now departs Skype from May and wants to bring customers to their own program.
It is the end of an era: the US software company Microsoft Closes his online telephony service Skype. « Skype will no longer be available from May 2025, » said Skype on Friday in online service X and instructed users to register for the Microsoft meeting platform teams. Microsoft bought the web call pioneer in 2011 for $ 8.5 billion (around 8.2 billion euros).
Skype was considered a synonym for video telephony on the Internet in the early 2000s before the technology was generally spreading, smartphones spread and other services such as zoom came onto the market.
Learned a lot from Skype
« We learned a lot from Skype (…) while we have developed teams over the past seven to eight years, » explained Jeff Teper, President of Microsoft 365, to the broadcaster CNBC. « But we had the feeling that it is now (…) and that we can deliver more innovations faster by concentrating on teams. »
During the transition to teams, the Skype group chat would remain intact, and contacts at Skype could also be contacted within a time window of 60 days with messages sent via teams, the company said.
No more normal calls
However, Microsoft introduces a big change: Skype's phone call services are removed so that no normal telephone or mobile phone numbers can be called or international phone calls can be made. Microsoft explained to the technology portal « The Verge » that these services were no longer so relevant today because mobile data for the cell phone cost less than before.
Skype was founded in Estonia
Skype founded two Scandinavians in Estonia in 2003, which initially offered free calls between computers and cheap calls to landline and mobile phones. Skype later developed into a provider of video calls and other services such as sending data. By 2005, 50 million users had already registered with Skype.
The online auctionaire Ebay bought Skype at the time for about $ 2.6 billion, but again sold the majority of shares in 2009 to an investor group. Microsoft acquired the service from this in turn. In 2016 Skype had around 300 million users.
