By: Nick Gambino

Skype has shut down their platform after 22 years, marking the sad end of an era. 

There was a time when Skype was synonymous with video calls. In fact, there was nothing even close. It was to video calling what Google is to internet search. But then something shifted and it started to lose its grip. 

Apple’s FaceTime was the first major blow, but it was Zoom that was the eventual death knell. When the pandemic hit, people flocked to Zoom to conduct their business and personal affairs at a time when in-person meetings had come to a screeching halt.

Skype went from 40 million users in 2020 to 36 million users by 2023. At a time when people demanded video conferencing software, the once king of that space just couldn’t deliver. When you’re not the only game in town you better innovate and be proactive if you want to keep that top spot. 

Now to be fair, Skype had been losing its grip for a while. If we rewind back to the early 2010s, Skype was carrying a hefty 300 million users. Only 10 years later it was at a tenth of that. The service was so popular eBay bought them for $2.5 billion in 2005 before Microsoft purchased them for $8.5 billion in 2011. 

Soon FaceTime, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangout and so many more were just everywhere. You didn’t have to use Skype and if video calling was integrated as a native app in your phone, it was easier to just use that. Though somehow Zoom – which is not a native app on any phone and requires a paid subscription for longer video calls – was able to capture the marketplace. So clearly that wasn’t the only problem.  

Skype may be dead, but they live on in Teams. Microsoft still owns Skype and are folding it into their communications platform Teams which includes video calling. Chats and contacts are automatically ported over when you create an account.

Goodbye, Skype, you were there when I needed you. I’ll carry with me fond memories of being close to loved ones even when they were far away. You made distance feel less lonely.

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