After 21 Years of Operation, Microsoft will Retire Skype on May 5

Microsoft has said that it will shut down Skype, its video-calling service, on May 5 of next week. Skype was one of the most popular video-calling platforms in the last two decades when it was launched in 2003.

However, the emergence of WhatsApp and FaceTime for video calling, which increased competition, coincided with the rapid advancements in communication technology. As part of its larger plan to simplify its other communication platforms and concentrate on Microsoft Teams, Microsoft revealed in an official blog post that Skype is being decommissioned.

"We will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams (free), our modern communications and collaboration hub, in order to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs," the company said.

Existing Users can Migrate to Teams

Since these Skype IDs can be used to log in and effortlessly move contacts and chats on the Teams platform, Microsoft has also confirmed that current Skype users won't experience any significant problems when switching to Teams.

In order to give people enough time to adjust, the firm first disclosed this decision earlier this year for this and other reasons. The move won't be too difficult because both systems have comparable functionality, and Microsoft has promised consumers that thorough help would be provided during the transfer process.

Microsoft has announced that Skype Credit and calling plans, among other premium services, will no longer be available to new customers. Nevertheless, paying subscribers can still utilise Teams to access their active subscriptions and credit.

 Additionally, Microsoft has made it clear that even when Skype Credit is stopped, any unused services will remain accessible. Via the Skype web portal or Microsoft Teams, paid users will also get access to earlier premium features like the Skype Dial Pad.

History of Skype

With the assistance of a group of former classmates who had no prior telecommunications experience, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, who had previously co-founded the peer-to-peer file-sharing application Kazaa, established Skype in Estonia in 2003. Skype started off as a way for users to make free online calls to each other.

The unusual title was a reference to the VoIP (voice over internet protocol) infrastructure that underpinned the service: "sky peer to peer". Skype quickly gained popularity. Eleven million users had registered by 2004.

With 54 million users, Skype was expecting $60 million in revenue annually from fees from people who wanted to call landlines and mobile phones by the time eBay revealed plans to purchase Skype Technologies SA for $2.6 billion in 2005.

Meg Whitman, the CEO of eBay at the time, had the idea that by bringing buyers and sellers together, Skype would enable individuals to sell goods—especially expensive ones—more rapidly. Additionally, eBay might charge more for these calls.

Skype users worldwide could also learn about PayPal and eBay. After 29 days, the transaction was finalised.