Skype's Final Call Set for May as Microsoft Prioritizes Teams

FILE PHOTO: A 3D printed Skype logo is placed in front of a keyboard in this illustration taken April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A 3D printed Skype logo is placed in front of a keyboard in this illustration taken April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Skype's Final Call Set for May as Microsoft Prioritizes Teams

FILE PHOTO: A 3D printed Skype logo is placed in front of a keyboard in this illustration taken April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A 3D printed Skype logo is placed in front of a keyboard in this illustration taken April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Skype will ring for the last time on May 5 as owner Microsoft retires the two-decade-old internet calling service that redefined how people connect across borders.
Shutting down Skype will help Microsoft focus on its homegrown Teams service by simplifying its communication offerings, the software giant said on Friday.
Founded in 2003, Skype's cheap audio and video calls quickly disrupted the landline industry in the early 2000s and made the company a household name boasting hundreds of millions of users at its peak. But the platform has struggled to keep up with easier-to-use and more reliable rivals such as Zoom and Salesforce's Slack in recent years.
The decline was partly because Skype's underlying technology was not suited for the smartphone era.
When the pandemic and work-from-home fueled the need for online business calls, Microsoft batted for Teams by aggressively integrating it with other Office apps to tap corporate users — once a major base for Skype.
To ease the transition from the platform, its users will be able to log into Teams for free on any supported device using their existing credentials, with chats and contacts migrating automatically.
With that, Skype will become the latest in a series of high-flying bets that Microsoft has mishandled, such as the Internet Explorer web browser and its Windows Phone. Other big tech firms have also struggled with online communication tools, with Google making several attempts through apps including Hangouts and Duo, Reuters reported.
It was not clear how many users or employees would be impacted by the move. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for the figure.
When Microsoft bought Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion after outbidding Google and Facebook — its largest deal at the time — the service had around 150 million monthly users; by 2020, that number had fallen to roughly 23 million, despite a brief resurgence during the pandemic.
Microsoft said on Friday "Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications".
"We are honored to have been part of the journey."



Musk Says He Plans to Sue Apple for Not Featuring X or Grok Among Its Top Apps 

Elon Musk is seen with a bruised eye that Musk claimed he received at the hands of his son, X Æ A-12, as he attends a press conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 30, 2025. (Reuters)
Elon Musk is seen with a bruised eye that Musk claimed he received at the hands of his son, X Æ A-12, as he attends a press conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 30, 2025. (Reuters)
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Musk Says He Plans to Sue Apple for Not Featuring X or Grok Among Its Top Apps 

Elon Musk is seen with a bruised eye that Musk claimed he received at the hands of his son, X Æ A-12, as he attends a press conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 30, 2025. (Reuters)
Elon Musk is seen with a bruised eye that Musk claimed he received at the hands of his son, X Æ A-12, as he attends a press conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 30, 2025. (Reuters)

Billionaire SpaceX, Tesla and X owner Elon Musk says he plans to sue Apple for not featuring X and its Grok artificial intelligence chatbot app in its top recommended apps in its App Store.

Musk posted the comments on X late Monday, saying, “Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps? Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know.”

Grok is owned by Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI.

Musk went on to say that “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action.”

He gave no further details.

There was no immediate comment from Apple, which has faced various allegations of antitrust violations in recent years.

A federal judge recently found that Apple violated a court injunction in an antitrust case filed by Fortnite maker Epic Games.

Regulators of the 27-nation European Union fined Apple 500 million euros in April for breaking competition rules by preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store.

Last year, the EU fined the US tech giant nearly $2 billion for unfairly favoring its own music streaming service by forbidding rivals like Spotify from telling users how they could pay for cheaper subscriptions outside of iPhone apps.

As of early Tuesday, the top app in Apple's App Store was TikTok, followed by Tinder, Duolingo, YouTube and Bumble. Open AI's ChatGPT was ranked 7th.