Service Ends on May 5:
Remembering All-Night Calls and Video Interviews
Skype, once known as the "borderless phone" used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, has ended its service after 22 years and faded into history.
Microsoft (MS) discontinued the operation of its internet calling and messaging service Skype on May 5 (local time).
Users who recalled making free late-night calls or maintaining long-distance relationships with family or friends living in other countries via Skype shared farewell messages and memories on social media. According to the Washington Post, millennials born in the 1980s and 1990s, in particular, experienced a unique sense of nostalgia and sentiment, as they first encountered Skype when they were coming of age.
Skype, developed in 2003 by Estonians Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, gained explosive popularity by utilizing VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology, allowing users to make direct calls over the internet without going through traditional telecom providers.
Skype was acquired by eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005 and later sold to MS for $8.5 billion in 2011, at one point boasting over 300 million users.
However, as smartphones became more widespread and mobile messenger services emerged, Skype's status gradually declined. The global outbreak of COVID-19 further pushed Skype aside in favor of video conferencing platforms such as Zoom.
MS also shifted its focus from Skype to its own collaboration and communication platform, Teams. The Washington Post evaluated Skype as "a service that embodied the values of the early open internet for many people, but ultimately failed to adapt to the evolving demands of consumers."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
