Have you ever wanted to learn more about the world‘s most popular video chat app Skype and how it has evolved over nearly 20 years to become a household name? This comprehensive guide is designed to walk you through everything you need to know, from Skype‘s origins and key milestones to how major features work.
Whether you are a regular Skype user or have never opened the app, by the end, you‘ll have a deep understanding of where this innovative communication tool came from and where it might be headed next. Let‘s get started!
Overview – Main Topics Covered
Here is an overview of the key topics we’ll explore in this guide:
- Origins – How Skype was started by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis in 2003 based on peer-to-peer technology
- Major developments – Funding, exponential user growth, acquisition by eBay & Microsoft
- Features breakdown – Explanation of core functionality like video calling
- Behind the scenes – The peer-to-peer infrastructure powering Skype’s network
- Competition – How Skype compares to alternatives like Zoom, FaceTime etc
- By the numbers – Key statistics and adoption rates over the years
- The future – What new functionality and integration is on the horizon
So whether you want to learn about Skype’s founding story, understand how its technology works or see how it has evolved over time, this guide has you covered. Let’s get into it!
The Founders & Funding That Launched Skype
It all began in 2002 when Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and Danish entrepreneur Janus Friis founded Skype Technologies S.A. Both were no strangers to innovative startups having previously founded Kazaa, a disruptive peer-to-peer file sharing network…
Exponential User Growth Over Two Decades
By 2004, Skype had registered an impressive 50 million users after only two years since launch. This demonstrates the immense pent up demand for a free video and voice calling solution…
But the growth was only just beginning – over the next two years user numbers doubled again, with Skype announcing it had surpassed 100 million registered users by 2006.
To put into perspective how rapid adoption has been, let’s take a look at a growth chart of registered users over time:
As you can see, there was exponential growth right up until 2009 when Skype already had over half a billion users – equal to almost 10% of the entire world population back then!
And by 2011, another growth spurt led to over 663 million registered users. The most recent public figures show Skype has surpassed 1.95 billion users as of 2022.
That is an astonishing rate of adoption over just 20 years since launch. It demonstrates how Skype’s free computer-to-computer calling and later mobile apps successfully attracted mainstream consumer usage globally.
How Skype’s Core Features & Technology Work
But what exactly has drawn so many millions to use Skype for over two decades? At its heart, Skype succeeds by providing a suite of free communication features not possible with traditional phone networks…
There’s no denying video chat tools like Skype have had a major influence on how we keep in touch with friends, family and work colleagues around the world.
And with further integration across Microsoft’s platforms on the horizon, Skype still has plenty of scope to improve our communication experiences well into the future too.
