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After kickstarting the market for making song over the internet 23 years ago , Skype is close down . Microsoft , which acquired the messaging and telephone app 14 years ago , said it will be retiring it from fighting responsibility on May 5 to double up down on Teams . Skype exploiter have 10 week to decide what they want to do with their news report .
It ’s not clear how many people are bear on . The most late numbers that Microsoft had shared were in 2023 , when it say it had more than 36 million users — a tenacious agency from Skype ’s crest of 300 million drug user .
“ We know this is a big deal for our Skype user , and we ’re very grateful for their financial support of Skype and all the encyclopedism that have factored into Teams over the last seven years,”Jeff Teper , president of Microsoft 365 collaborative Apps and platforms , tell TechCrunch in an interview this calendar week . “ At this full point , putting all our focus behind Teams will allow us give a simpler message and ram faster origination . ”
Between now and May 5 , users will have the option to migrate all their contacts and chat data point over to Microsoft’sTeams platform . Alternatively , users can download their Skype data using the app ’s ramp up - in export prick .
The business case
The word will make out as little surprise to those who have followed Skype in late years , and in many fashion , the writing has been on the wall since 2016 , whenMicrosoft debuted Teams .
While Microsoft hadlaunched a specific Skype for Business productin 2015 , Teams ’ arrival signaled a new direction for Microsoft in the cloud communications blank space . Many equate Teams to a Slack clone , but the bigger ambition was to build a political platform that would give infinite for collaboration and communication across a full reach of Microsoft and other apps , and that included video and text chatting — a direct overlap with Skype .
Microsoft thenrevealed plans to phase outSkype for Business in 2017,concluding those elbow grease four eld subsequently , in 2021 . That same year , Microsoft choose Teams as theintegrated communication app of choice on Windows 11 , relegating Skype to the sidelines .
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Fast - forward to December 2024 , TechCrunch reportedthat Microsoft had stoppedletting Skype users addcreditto their accounts , or buySkype phone number , push user to monthly subscriptions and Skype - to - phone plans instead .
And so this takes us to today ’s news , signalling the remainder of a brand and company that was one of the first cock-a-hoop tech startup to launch out of Europe in thedawdling days of dial - up .
Skype ’s decease knell comes two years afterMicrosoft started wheel outan entirely rebuilt , rearchitected Teams screen background and web app . In those two year , Teper aver consumer call minutes in Teams has raise four times , though he pass up to say how many consumers make up its 320 million exploiter base .
“ It ’s at a high enough musical scale that we feel great about the app [ Teams ] for personal use , ” Teper said . “ We feel we have the mileage under our belt on the adoption by consumers , [ who are ] using Teams in their personal lifespan . We ’ve thought about [ shutting down Skype ] for a while , but we really felt like the intersection had to show the end - user adoption with consumers telling us it was ready . ”
And Microsoft believes that consumers are now quick .
User numbers
While Skype show in a fresh earned run average of net - based communication , starting with voice beforeexpanding to videoand file cabinet - sharing , the comer of smartphones and a swathe of new electronic messaging apps have acquire a toll on Skype ’s exploiter count through the eld . For context , WhatsAppsailed past 2 billion usersin 2020 .
When Skypefiled for an IPO in 2010 , it divulge 560 million register users and 124 million monthly active users . But rather than run public in the wake of itsspinoff from eBay(which it hadacquired it in 2005 ) , Microsofttabled a $ 8.5 billion bid for Skype in 2011and grow the political program to a peak of300 million users in 2013 .
Microsoft has n’t made a habit of breaking out Skype user number in subsequent geezerhood , though it has tease the occasional data point . At the start of the pandemic in March 2020 , the companyrevealedthat Skype had grown 70 % month - on - month to 40 million day-by-day users , as citizenry essay ways to stay in touch with loved ones during lockdown — a tendency that generatedsimilar surges in rival platformssuch as Zoom .
The most late update Microsoft provided was via ablog post published in early 2023announcing an integration between Skype and its Bing search engine , where it discover that “ more than 36 million people use Skype daily to connect through phone calls and chats ” globally .
The long and short of this , though , is that Teams ’ growth and Skype ’s flatlining is one reason Microsoft reckons now is a skilful time to go all in on Teams .
“ Skype admit a bump — as did Teams — during the pandemic , and Skype has largely been somewhat stable in the last couple of years , ” Teper say . “ And we feel the meter , and the feedback , was such that we could make the move . ”
Phone home
Microsoft is encouraging users to move over toTeams Free . This extend some additional feature not available in Skype , such as calendar integration , but Teams Free lack other key features that were authentication of Skype — specifically , phone - call functionality that allow user to call mobile and landline numbers , as well as receive sound call with a Skype phone number .
Microsoft begandeprecating these services back in December , forbid substance abuser from adding any further mention to their accounts while also putting a hitch on buying Skype numbers . Users were still able-bodied to make birdcall to telephone numbers with a valid monthly subscription or any remaining credit they had , but the subscription renewals will come to an destruction on April 3 .
For bequest users who still have credit in their accounts , Microsoft will be make a Skype Dial Pad available both in the Skype internet hepatic portal vein and in Teams for an indefinite period .
“ We ’ll support [ this ] as long as users have acknowledgment and they ’re using this functionality , ” Microsoft VP of productAmit Fulaytold TechCrunch .
Despite the go-ahead personification of Teamsoffering phone - call functionality , Fulay confirmed that Teams Free wo n’t abide PSTN ( public switched telephone internet ) services , mostly because of shifting consumer trends .
“ We ’ve been looking at usage of telephony for a while on Skype , and patterns have changed , usage has changed , and this is a step towards that , ” he said . “ People have mobile data architectural plan , and when this [ telephony ] functionality came out many age ago , that was n’t the case . ”
System migration
During the transition period , Skype users will be able to download the Teams app and enter with their Skype credentials , with all their chats and contacts transmigrate over mechanically . The Skype app will stay on to work in tandem , through May 5 , 2025 .
Alternatively , user will be able to export their data , though in reality there probably is n’t all that much they ’ll be able to do with it in terms of import it anywhere else .
“ We wanted to check that that during this transition , people are n’t lose their contacts , their computer storage , ” Fulay said . “ We want to ensure we save all the thing people have apportion . And if they choose to occur to squad , we ’ll reconstruct all of their contacts and data . ”
If a user takes no action by May 5 , Skype read it will retain substance abuser data until the end of the yr , after which it will be deleted .
Blurred lines
One of the big takeaway from all this is how the line between the business and consumer land have blurred , due in part to societal norms around technology and trend such as outside work .
Skype began as a consumer product that spread out into the business sphere , while squad begin as a business ware thatsegued into consumer . team today , though , stillfeelslike a business ware , especially due to its name . Do families and friends really see themselves as part of one self-aggrandizing “ squad ” ?
Teper , for his part , does n’t see this as a trouble , given that many of its existing merchandise already exceed enjoyment - typesetter’s case boundaries .
“ I think a lot of multitude will make the changeover [ from Skype to Teams ] , ” he tell . “ If you think about Word , Excel , PowerPoint , those are brand that work for concern and personal economic consumption for people . We have kidskin and parents doing their preparation in Word , and budget in Excel , so we have honest precedent about our instrument being used in personal and work liveliness . ”
