VIDEO CALLING APP Skype is shutting down, and the service will no longer be available from May onwards.

Microsoft, which owns the app, says it’s retiring the service to focus on Teams, which has many similar functions.

In recent years, Skype, which was first launched in 2003, failed to keep up with rivals such as WhatsApp and Zoom, as well Teams.

To help with the transition, Skype users will be able to sign into Teams using their Skype credentials. By logging in to Teams with a Skype account, chats and contacts will automatically appear in the app so communications aren’t lost.

During the transition period, Teams users can call and chat with Skype users and Skype users can do the same with Teams users.

In a statement, Microsoft said: “Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of the journey. ”

Skype was founded in 2003 by Scandinavians Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis in Estonia, revolutionising internet communication by offering free voice calls between computers and affordable rates for calls to landlines and mobile phones.

Over the years, and as internet speeds improved, Skype evolved to include video calls, instant messaging, file sharing, and group communication features.

By 2005, Skype had already reached 50 million registered users, demonstrating its rapid global adoption.

Online auction site eBay acquired Skype in 2005 for approximately $2.6 billion, but the expected synergies never panned out, and in 2009, eBay sold a majority stake to a group of investors, who then sold it to Microsoft.

“We’ve learned a lot from Skype…as we’ve evolved Teams over the last seven to eight years,” Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms, told CNBC.

“But we felt like now is the time because we can be simpler for the market, for our customer base, and we can deliver more innovation faster just by being focused on Teams.”

The name “Skype” derived from “Sky peer-to-peer,” the technology that was fundamental to Skype’s original architecture.

The peer-to-peer aspect was crucial as it distributed the network demands across users’ computers rather than relying solely on centralized servers, which was a key innovation that allowed Skype to scale rapidly during its early years.

With reporting by AFP