Skype, the pioneering online video calling service, ended May 5
Skype, the pioneering online video calling service that has been around for more than two decades, ended service May 5.
According to NPR, Microsoft, which owns Skype, announced in February that the service would be available until May 5 and urged users to switch over to the free version of Microsoft Teams, its communication platform that features the ability to video call.
“Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of the journey,” Jeff Teper, Microsoft’s president of collaborative apps and platforms, said in a blog post earlier this year.
Skype, founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, began as a service offering phone calls over the internet. Later, it also let users video call each other and send private messages — all for free. It was among the first video conferencing apps and exploded in popularity, at one point boasting more than 300 million users, according to The Washington Post. But Skype’s user base dwindled in recent years, as the app faced growing competition from video calling and messaging alternatives such as Zoom, WhatsApp and Slack.
