Microsoft hangs up on Skype: service to shut down May 5, 2025

Skype is closed after opening the market to call over the Internet 23 years ago. Microsoft, who received messaging and calling applications 14 years ago, said he would retire the teams from active duties to lower the teams. Skype users have 10 weeks to decide what they want to do with their accounts.

It is not clear how much human affects. The latest numbers shared by Microsoft in 2023 are more than 36 million users, said that Skype is a long way from the top of the 300 million users.

“This is a great deal for our Skype users, and we are very grateful for all the studies that have entered teams to teams in the last seven years” Jeff TeachThe President of Microsoft 365 cooperates and platforms, spoke at TechCrunch in an interview this week. “At this point, let us give a simpler message by putting all our attention into teams and give rise to a faster innovation.”

Now and May 5 will have the opportunity to transfer all contacts and chat information to Microsoft Teams platform. Alternatively, users can download Skype data using the internal export tool.

Business case

In recent years, the news for Skype watchers will be a few surprise; And in many ways, the writing has been on the wall since 2016 Microsoft has debuted teams.

Although Microsoft Launched a specific skype for the business product In 2015, the arrival of the teams pointed to a new direction in the cloud communication space for Microsoft. Many of many were a clone teams, but the larger fame was to set up a platform that will give you a place for collaboration and communication between Microsoft and other applications, and it also overlaps videos and text conversations.

Microsoft then Has revealed plans for phase Skype for business in 2017, The result of these efforts after four yearsIn 2021. That year, Microsoft chose teams An integrated communication application in Windows 11to direct Skype to the edges.

Fast progress until December 2024 has reported TechCrunch o Microsoft stopped To add to Skype users credit purchase their accounts or Skype phone numbersUsers subscribe to monthly subscribe and skype-phone plans.

Thus, this is the end of a brand, which is one of the first major technological beginnings to start the end of Europe, to the news today Dial-up days.

Skype’s death Knell comes two years later Microsoft began to spread Completely reconstructed, reconstructed desktop and website application. In these two years, the TEPER says consumers have increased by a few minutes in groups, although the 320 million users said they did makeup of several consumers.

“This is a high level of feeling great about the application [Teams] For personal use, “said Teper.” We have a march under our pipeline regarding adoption by consumers, [who are] using teams in their personal lives. We thought about [shutting down Skype] It’s really a while, but we really felt that the product is ready to show the latest user adoption with consumers who say that the product is ready. “

And Microsoft believes that consumers are now ready.

User numbers

Skype When used in a new era of internet-based communication starting earlier Expanding the video And the combination of files sharing, smartphones and new messaging applications received the number of Skype users over the years. For context, WhatsApp The last 2 billion users were upset In 2020.

When Skype In 2010 was presented for an IPOThe 560 million registered user and 124 million-month-old active user detected. However, rather than to go public in the awakening Rotate from eBay (which is aDid it in 2005), Microsoft In 2011 offered $ 8.5 billion for Skypeand raised the platform to the top 300 million users in 2013.

Microsoft has not been habits not to eliminate Skype user numbers in the following years, although it was a random information point. In March 2020 in the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 obvious This Skype grew up to 40 million daily users in 70% of the month because people are looking for ways to connect with your loved ones – a trend Similar work on competing platforms to enlarge as.

The latest update is issued by Microsoft The blog post was published early 2023 As an integration between Skype and its Bing search engine, “More than 36 million people use Skype using Skype to connect with phone calls and conversations,” he said.

It is a reason for the long and short of these teams, the growth and SKYPE’s straightforward, Microsoft accounts are now a good time to go to teams.

“Skype took a bump – like the teams – during the pandemic and Skype was very stable in the last few years,” he said. “And we felt the time and the opinion did the way we could move.”

Phone house

Microsoft encourages users to overcome The teams are free. It offers some additional features that are not available in Skype as calendar integrations, but teams accept phone-phone call function, as well as phone calls with a Skype phone number that allows you to call Skype mobile and city numbers.

Microsoft started To return these services in DecemberWhile preventing any loan addition to users’ accounts, while continuing to buy Skype numbers. Users were still able to call the phone numbers with a valid monthly subscription or the rest of the remaining loans, but subscription updates will end on April 3.

Microsoft, who is still credit in accounts, will also prepare a Skype dialing pad in the Skype Web portal and in the teams.

“We will support [this] As long as users use loans and use of this functionality, Microsoft VP product Amit fulay He said to TechCrunch.

Despite the embodiment of enterprise teams The phone call offers to workFulay confirmed that there will be no free support of teams PSTN (Public Switching Telephone Network) Services, mainly due to consumer trends.

“We looked at the telephony for a while in Skype for a while, and the samples have changed, and it has changed, and this is one step,” he said. “People have mobile data plans and this time [telephony] The functionality was not so long ago. “

System migration

During the transition period, Skype users will be able to download teams and be able to log in with Skype credentials, all conversations and contacts are transferred automatically. The Skype application itself will continue to work in Tandem on May 5, 2025.

Alternatively, users will be able to export information, although they will likely be able to deal with this in terms of importing anywhere in reality, which will not be able to deal with it.

“We wanted to make sure that people do not lose their contacts and memories during this passage.” We want to make sure people will protect all the things they share. If they choose to come to the teams, we will restore all their relations and information. “

If a user does not have any activity until May 5, Skype will keep user information by the end of the year, then will be deleted.

Bulny lines

One of all this is how the lines between consumer worlds are mixed in connection with the norms of society around the trends, such as lines, technology and distant work between business and consumer worlds.

Skype has started a consumer product spreading in the workplace, and the teams started as a business product Sequed to the consumer. Today, the teams, still feel Especially as a job product according to its name. Do families and friends really see themselves as part of a large “team”?

The TEPER does not see as a problem because it recommends the boundaries used by many products of the existing product.

“I think a lot of people will pass [from Skype to Teams]”He said.” If you think about Word, Excel, PowerPoint, people are working for people working and personal use. Children and parents are the so-called and budgets and excel in their homework, so we have a good precedent about our tools used in personal and business life. “