[German]Brief information for users of Microsoft's Skype service. There is a report from XDA-Developers that Microsoft will shut down the Skype service in May 2025. Users should then use Teams as a successor.
Advertising
Skype's history
Skype was founded in 2003 by two Nordic entrepreneurs. The service was successful because it enabled millions of people to avoid expensive international calls via telephone companies and make calls via Skype. Most Skype users chatted for free, and Skype made money from prepaid calls to regular phones.
The company has had various owners in the past, including EBay. Until 2011, the company was controlled by a consortium of investors led by Silver Lake. It was then sold to Microsoft in 2011.
When Microsoft bought the provider Skype for 8.5 billion US dollars in 2011, the following saying went around among the techies: 'Let's see how long it takes them to break Skype'. At the time I thought it was a 'nasty' insinuation and took note of it with a wink. Today I realize 'I was wrong'.
Back in 2018, I wrote the blog post "Skype in decline: Who broke it?", in which I outlined the above history of Skype and reported that customer satisfaction and the user base were on the wane.
It was foreseeable for some time that Skype would be discontinued at some point – I outlined this development in the German article Skype for Business wird Microsoft Teams (even though it was about the business version of Skype). You could have guessed some time ago that something was going to happen "soon".
Advertising
Until recently, it was possible to book Skype Credit with Microsoft to make calls to mobile or landline numbers. In the article Microsoft kicks Skype Credits and offers monthly subscriptions Posted on 2024-12-13 by guenni, I reported in December 2024 that this option has been removed and users can only book monthly subscriptions for such calls.
Skype to be shut down in May 2025
A German blog reader has now pointed out in a comment (thanks for that) that Skype should soon be history. XDA-Developers has just published the article Exclusive: Microsoft is finally shutting down Skype in May.
End of Skype as announcement; Source: XDA Developers
The above message was discovered by an attentive reader in the latest preview of Skype for Windows. XDA then verified this. The message in the source code reads "From May Skype will no longer be available. Continue your calls and chats in Teams". The message: Microsoft wants to discontinue Skype as a service from May 2025. As a successor, people should use Microsoft Teams.
Personally, I use Skype for video calls within the family and still have a small amount of credit left. The last time Skype threw a spanner in the works was when I updated the Skype Android app. Suddenly all the contacts in my wife's Android address book (contacts app) were there more than once. It quickly became clear that the Skype app had touched all the contacts and added its own entries – which then led to three or more contact entries for the same person. I had to laboriously delete them manually.
Incidentally, it doesn't seem to have been an isolated case, there is a thread on reddit.com for instance about multiple duplicate contacts. It's just Microsoft's SaaS (Software as a surprise).
Microsoft officially confirm Skype retiring
Addendum: Microsoft has set up now the support site Skype is retiring in May 2025: What you need to know, where the retiring of Skype is confirmed. There you can find more details about that topic and how to move to Teams free.
Advertising
