Skype is one of those big hit-fail-success that we often see in the technology industry. The invention of two Scandinavian technology entrepreneurs, Skype has been a pioneer in peer-to-peer communication, making video calls feasible even in slow Internet connections dating back to mid-2000. The company was first sold to eBay, then recovered by an investment fund looking for buyers or a potential IPO, and eventually sold to Microsoft in 2011 for $ 8.5 billion.
As an avid Skyper in the early days, I remember recommending it to friends and colleagues for free calls and a videoconference that did not work like the others. But just as Microsoft ignored the move to mobile computing, Skype also lagged behind the innovation curve, remaining a solid but somewhat outdated Windows application with Mac support that monetized the data. cheap international calls. By the time Skype arrived on the mobile (and even to this day), it came as a painfully slow application, exhausting the battery that often fails to deliver a smooth experience.
Microsoft has also done its part over the years. First merging of Skype connections with Microsoft Passport, a messy and unnecessary transition that had average computer users - who counted and perhaps liked the application to communicate with their family - frustrated with the change.
In the midst of the move from Windows to "Metro" applications, Microsoft also tried to make Skype a preinstalled application, which resulted in the installation of two separate versions of Skype on the same computer, using separate login screens. Which one's path was the one to use. At that time, the desktop application had been redesigned more than once and neither the desktop application nor the Metro application were good choices.
At the peak of its popularity, Skype had become a verb - before mobile messaging platforms like BlackBerry Messenger, iMessage or WhatsApp exploded - I remember using Skype for personal communications, replacing other forms of instant messaging and receiving working contacts to communicate using the platform. Since then Slack, Hipchat and other collaborative work platforms have flourished. Even Microsoft has built its own collaboration platform called Microsoft Teams to counter competitors from other big names entering the space like Cisco.
More recently, Microsoft split Skype in two: for consumers, Skype remains a messy application that looks like a Snapchat clone, with appalling mobile calling quality. And for enterprise customers, Skype for Business has replaced Microsoft Lync, is set to merge with Microsoft Teams, and connect to Office 365.
An article by Bloomberg gives details of Skype's current location with major customers and how Microsoft has been successful in selling Skype for Business to companies such as General Electric. GE deployed the service to 220,000 employees by the end of 2017 and would record 5.5 million minutes of meeting per day. Other business customers include some of the largest US banks and large companies in Europe, where Skype has always been a very popular brand. According to a Forrester survey of more than six thousand computer scientists, 28 percent reported using Skype for Business for conferences, compared to 21 percent for Cisco products.
Regarding missed opportunities, Microsoft has been the pioneer of real-time translation and Skype has been part of it since 2014. However, you'll have a hard time finding anyone suggesting that Skype runs the communication like formerly, offering unparalleled quality of call, not to mention consistency. So while the public perception is not on Microsoft's side on this one, Skype is living to see another day.
Credit image of the credit: Neowin
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