Skype

Keep in touch with free video chat, messaging & affordable international calls. Create instant online video calls with one click, no download required.

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Skype is an instant messaging application that provides video and voice calls to and from other internet-connected devices or traditional phones/smartphones through system devices with an Internet connection, including mobile phones, tablets, etc. Users can send and receive instant messaging messages, transfer files, send and receive multimedia messages, and conduct video conferences through Skype. Skype is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as smartphones and tablets using Android and iOS. Most of the Skype services are free, but when you need to make a call to a landline or mobile phone, you will need to purchase Skype Credit or subscribe to a subscription. The Skype software is licensed under the framework of the Freemium License Agreement.

Skype was launched in August 2003. The software was developed in collaboration with four Estonians, including Niklas Zennström from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark, and Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn, who developed the SKYPE SERVER software. The backend used by Skype is also used by the music-sharing software Kazaa. In September 2005, eBay bought Skype for $2.6 billion. In September 2009, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announced a $1.9 billion purchase of a 65% stake in Skype from eBay. The acquisition is valued at $2.75 billion for Skype. In May 2011, Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion. Microsoft’s Skype division is headquartered in Luxembourg, but most of the department’s development team and 44% of its employees still work in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia.

Skype allows communication with a microphone, video communication via camera, and instant messaging via text. Skype-to-Skype calls are free of charge, but when calls are made to a landline or mobile phone (via the traditional public switched telephone network), the user is charged through a user account system called “Skype Credit”. Unlike most VoIP software, Skype uses a mix of peer-to-peer and master-slave architectures. This architecture is achieved through a background process that Skype installs on your computer. This architecture is reflected in Skype’s original plan to enable the name Sky Peer-to-Peer (end-to-end).

In some community, government, home, and school networks, network administrators may prohibit the use of Skype for reasons such as inappropriate resource use, excessive bandwidth usage, and security.

Skype’s competitors include session initiation protocols and H.323-based web services such as Linphone, Google Hangouts, and Viber.