Free Internet phone and video calling from Microsoft. Skype was ended in May 2025 with users encouraged to migrate to Teams (see
Microsoft Teams).
Online from 2003 to 2025, Skype was one of the first video calling services. Access to regular telephones was also available, and users could dial any phone number for a low per-minute or monthly charge. Subscribers could also obtain a Skype phone number to receive calls. In 2010, Skype introduced its group service that let five people have a videoconference.
Explosive Growth
Introduced in 2003, within a year, more than a hundred million people downloaded the software. In the fall of 2005, Skype claimed 40 million active users and was acquired by eBay for $2.6 billion. In 2009 with eBay retaining a third of the company, Skype was acquired by private investors. In 2011, Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion to replace Windows Live Messenger and partnered with Facebook to allow members to make video calls. See
Windows Live Messenger.
Innovative Supernodes
Instead of using standard voice over IP protocols such as SIP and H.323, Skype originally used its own peer-to-peer architecture. If Skype could not make a direct connection, it could elicit a user running Skype to become a "supernode" and relay the call. However, only a fraction of users ever became supernodes at any given time, and in the early 2010s, supernodes were dropped. See
Skype for Business,
supernode and
softphone.