So long Skype!
Microsoft is shutting down Skype from May 2025 after after 21 years, the Skype era is over. Skype was the dominant internet-based phone and video service of the mid 2000s. By the end of 2010 Skype had over 660 million registered users. Many will mourn its closure with a heavy heart. It allowed long distance relationships to flourish, businesses to stretch their reach, and customer service to reach beyond the faceless interactions of voice calls. You didn’t just video call – you ‘Skyped’.
Microsoft was in no doubt of the extent that Skype could shape modern communications when buying the service in 2011 for $8.5 billion – so what went wrong?
Why No Covid Boom?
Why has Skype not stood the test of time? So many other similar services have emerged and flourished, particularly in the unprecedented demands of the pandemic for video calling.
Skype struggled against competition from Apple’s FaceTime, Meta’s WhatsApp, Google Meet and Zoom.
At a time when Skype should have been reveling in the unexpected bounty for video calling that the pandemic created. Instead, as WIRED so starkly put it, Skype missed “the biggest potential use case for its product in human history.”
At the start of 2020, Skype dominated an impressive 32.4% of the video call market. By the start of 2021 Zoom held nearly half the market, leaving Skype with just a 6.6% slice of the pie!
Why the Demise?
So what went wrong? You can’t blame Skype for not evolving. It was fresh and relevant in rolling out new features; instant messaging, SMS and landline calling. The ability to screen share, file share and group video call made it the perfect solution for private tutors, instructors and practitioners worldwide.
Skype can’t even be blamed for dragging its heels when it came to the shift from desktop to mobile – in 2010 Skype jumped onto the smartphone.
Many place its demise at the new marketing shift with Microsoft at the helm from 2011. Skype was integrated into Facebook, Outlook and Xbox, there were questions as to how well the needs of the user were truly being addressed. Skype’s remodeling of its interface was messy and saw it move further and further away from its tried-and-tested USP of free and easy international video calling services.
Skype’s downfall came from a misguided desire to chase trends, become fresh and be seen as cool. It neglected to prioritise reliability, ease of use and quality – the very attributes that had make Skype so dominant to start with.
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