It’s the end of an era for web calls: Skype is shutting down soon. Microsoft announced it will be retiring the legacy communication platform soon and pushing existing users to adopt Teams instead. Here are the details.
Skype users being encouraged to switch to Teams before May 5 deadline
Skype is shutting down May 5, leaving users about two months to migrate data over to Teams or find another platform altogether.
According to Jeff Teper, Microsoft president overseeing communications and collaboration tools, the need for increased AI investment is a big reason why Skype is being retired.
Matt Day writes at Bloomberg:
The Windows maker is shuttering Skype to focus on developing new features for Teams, including artificial intelligence tools, Teper said. The company is working to infuse AI into its product suite, while keeping a lid on spending that isn’t part of that effort. It’s reassigning staff that had worked on Skype to other areas of the business and will not lay anyone off, Teper added.
According to Bloomberg, while Skype once had over 300 million monthly users in 2016, that number shrank to around 36 million by 2023 as Microsoft Teams has grown.
9to5Mac’s Take
Skype was one of the major losers of the 2020 COVID era that brought big success to companies like Zoom and Slack. Already at the time Microsoft was investing heavily in Teams, so Skype, despite its past success, was largely left to flounder.
Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011, which is not that long ago in the grand scheme of things.
Per the company, Skype helped set a foundation that was built upon with Teams. So in that sense, its downfall is less a story of failure and more one of preparing the way for the more modern Teams platform to emerge.
When was the last time you used Skype? Are you surprised at all by the news? Let us know in the comments.
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