End of an online era as Microsoft closes Skype | Australian Markets

Skype, the once-popular video call service, has ended operations after more than 20 years.

Owner Microsoft had introduced the transfer in February, encouraging Skype customers emigrate to its communications app Teams.

“As we say goodbye to Skype, we want to thank our incredible community. Over the years, you’ve connected with family, friends, and colleagues across the world,” the Skype crew mentioned in a post on the service’s official X web page on Monday.

“This isn’t the end – it’s a new beginning. Join us on Microsoft Teams Free and continue making great memories.”

The service stops being accessible from Tuesday.

Skype was based in Luxembourg in 2003 by Niklas Zennström of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark.

The service ushered in an era of online communication as it allowed a mass viewers to make free voice and video calls over the web for the primary time.

It was significantly widespread for worldwide communication as it allowed customers to keep away from high phone prices that had been inescapable till then.

At its peak, Skype had a number of hundred million customers a month worldwide.

According to the Similarweb statistics service, the quantity of customers has since fallen to about 30 million a month.

Skype customers couldn’t solely call different Skype customers, but in addition make calls to landline and cellular numbers.

A Skype credit or subscription was required for this function.

Microsoft purchased Skype in 2011 for $US8.5 billion and built-in it into its ecosystem, together with Windows and Office.

Despite this integration, Skype has misplaced ground to rivals such as Zoom and WhatsApp.

But Microsoft Teams, which launched in 2017, has now established itself as one of the main suppliers within the collaboration software program market and performs a central function in company communications.