As Microsoft begins to celebrate its 50th anniversary, one of its brands won't be around for its congratulatory slice of cake. On Feb. 28, Microsoft published an article from Jeff Teper, its president of collaborative apps and platforms, declaring that Skype is officially on its digital deathbed.
"In order to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs," he wrote, "we will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams (free), our modern communications and collaboration hub."
When Skype was launched in 2003, the VoIP calling service exploded out of the gate. It had 11 million registered users by 2004 and more than quadrupled to 54 million users the next year. That was enough to entice eBay to purchase Skype for roughly $2.6 billion. Within the next three years, there were hundreds of millions of users worldwide.
In 2009, though, the economy dipped, and eBay eventually sold Skype to an investor group for about $2.75 billion. Two years later, Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion.
What killed this promising technology? Not surprisingly, it was other promising technologies.
In its heyday, Skype was so popular it became a verb—at one point or another, we all said, "I'll Skype you." What killed this promising technology? Not surprisingly, it was other promising technologies.
Smartphones were certainly a factor—the iPhone had FaceTime, while another app staple, Facebook (now Meta), purchased WhatsApp. But Microsoft itself didn't do Skype any favors, introducing Teams in 2016. And when the pandemic disrupted, well, everything, Zoom became, well, Zoom.
I suppose the writing was on the wall when Microsoft introduced Windows 11 in 2021; if you wanted Skype, it required a separate download. Meanwhile, based on numbers reported in October 2023, Teams grew to 320 million monthly active users in less than a decade. That kind of success does not go unnoticed, and it certainly doesn't need internal competition.
Teper went on to pitch Teams as a much better and feature-rich option, adding that in the past two years the "number of minutes spent in meetings by consumer users of Teams" has quadrupled. Then, he outlined how Skype users could move to Microsoft Teams for free or export their Skype contacts and other data.
Here's the part that surprised me: According to Microsoft, Skype still had 36 million daily users as recently as 2023. That was down from 40 million in 2020, so it was clearly on a downward trajectory, but it's still a big number and explains the company's efforts to resettle those video callers.
Only 22 years after arguably bringing video calls to the masses (no, the AT&T VideoPhone doesn't count), Skype is about to become a relic. In short order, it will be classified as legacy technology, dusted off during the occasional Pro AV networking event.
I can see it now. Drink tickets have been traded for beer or wine, maybe the leftover toothpicks from a couple of hors d'oeuvers sit on paper napkins on the high tabletop around which a handful of industry veterans have gathered. The conversation has moved from current technology compatibility headaches to a wistful recollection of technologies of the past.
As the talk progresses past 3/4-inch tape or some other analog treasure, perhaps the youngest of the group, the gray hair not quite so obvious, will chime in. "What about Skype?" they'll suggest. There will be an audible "oh yeah" from the table. Then, someone will sing the "boo bee boo" ringtone, and everyone will laugh and laugh.
[Editorial: The 'Old Days' Really Weren't That Long Ago]
Not to repeat myself, but Skype was acquired just 14 years ago for $8.5 billion and still has millions of users. In a few weeks, it will be relegated to the Pro AV equivalent of a Trivial Pursuit question. Maybe the lesson here is to not entangle yourself with any one product or service too tightly. Technological progress is merciless—you never know what seemingly ubiquitous solution will be next to join Skype on memory lane.
