Skype was how families called abroad and how long-distance couples saw each other in 2010. It reported more than 500 million registered users, offered free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls, and sold SkypeOut credit for calling phones. Video calling on the iPhone arrived at the very end of the year.
- Domain in 2010
- skype.com
- Launched
- 29 August 2003
- Founders
- Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis
- Owner in 2010
- Investor group led by Silver Lake (majority) and eBay
- Status today
- Shut down
What people used it for
- Free voice and video calls
- Cheap international calls to phones
- Group calls
Interface characteristics
- Blue cloud logo
- Contact list with green ticks for online
- Call and video call buttons
Notable features
- Skype for iPhone video calls (December 2010)
- Skype credit and subscriptions
- Screen sharing
What happened later
Microsoft bought Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion and retired it in May 2025 in favour of Teams.
Archived on the Wayback Machine
Archived pages open on web.archive.org (Internet Archive). They are historical captures, not part of this exhibit.
Related
- WebsiteSupported
Windows Live Messenger (MSN)
Nudges, winks and display names full of lyrics
Still called MSN by almost everyone, Windows Live Messenger was the dominant instant messenger outside the United States in 2010, with hundreds of millions of users. Its 2011 version, released in...
- WebsiteSupported
Google Talk and Gmail Chat
Chat inside your inbox
Google Talk, and the Gmail Chat box built into the Gmail sidebar, let people message and video chat without installing anything. In 2010 it was quietly replacing AIM for many, and Google Voice calls...
