Microsoft has announced that Skype, the once-popular voice and video calling platform, will be discontinued in May 2025.
(Image credit: Investment monitor)
The company is directing users to its Teams platform, which will serve as the replacement.
Skype was introduced in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, offering free voice calls between computers and low-cost calls to phones.
It quickly gained popularity, reaching 50 million users by 2005.
That same year, eBay purchased Skype for $2.6 billion, but the expected business advantages did not materialize.
In 2009, eBay sold most of its stake to investors, who later transferred ownership to Microsoft.
Under Microsoft, Skype introduced video calls, instant messaging, and file sharing.
However, as smartphones became more common, Skype faced competition from services like WhatsApp, Zoom, and Microsoft’s own Teams.
Microsoft has been focusing on Teams for several years, incorporating features that make it suitable for both personal and professional communication.
The decision to retire Skype is part of an effort to simplify its services and concentrate on developing Teams further.
Skype’s name originally came from “Sky peer-to-peer,” referring to the decentralized system that allowed users to communicate without relying on central servers.
This technology helped Skype expand quickly in its early years, but changes in the market and advancements in internet communication have led Microsoft to phase it out.
