Microsoft celebrates Skype's 10th birthday; 3D video calls in the works

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On August 29th, 2003, five people from Estonia, Sweden and Denmark launched the first version of Skype. In 10 years, the VoIP service has massively expanded its reach and has become one of the most popular software programs ever released. Indeed, the word "Skyped" has become a term for some people to use when they make a call on the service, much like how people use "Googled it" to describe searching for files.

Microsoft acquired Skype in October 2011 for $8.5 billion and since then the company has been very busy integrating the service in several of its products, including most recently Outlook.com. It will also be used in the upcoming Xbox One game console.

On the occasion of Skype's 10th anniversary today, Microsoft released a new infographic, shown below, that claims Skype now has 300 million connected users. Indeed, Microsoft claims that a third of all international telephone calls now go through Skype. Over the past 10 years. Skype users have spent over 1.4 trillion minutes using the service.

Microsoft also announced that, from now until 12 am PT Friday, every single Skype user will receive 30 minutes of free WiFi access that can be used on its two million hotspots. The free minutes, which have to be used in two 15 minute segments, will be available for use over the next month.

So what does the Skype team have planned for the future? According to a BBC story, it is looking into developing a way to offer 3D video chat, but that technology could be several years down the road. Mark Gillett, the corporate VP for Microsoft's Skype division, stated:

We have it in the lab, we know how to make it work and we're looking at the ecosystem of devices and their capability to support it in order to make a decision when we might think about bringing something like that to market.
Gillett says that a Skype client could also be released for Sony's PlayStation 4 in the future. A version of Skype is already available for the Sony PS Vita portable console.

Posted:
Related Forum: PC General Forum

Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-celebrates-skypes-10th-birthday-with-free-wifi-3d-video-calls-in-the-works

Comments

"Microsoft celebrates Skype's 10th birthday; 3D video calls in the works" :: Login/Create an Account :: 59 comments

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-SkillzPosted:

Frog 1.4 trillion minutes on Skype!? Wow! That is crazy...


I think that is ridiculous

FrogPosted:

1.4 trillion minutes on Skype!? Wow! That is crazy...

MultitaskPosted:

yea agree 3D video calls aren't really needed but its good to have .

DV8Posted:

Why would I need 3D video calls, when I could just call someone through my computer and it is 3D?

DissPosted:

I really didn't know Skype was that old.

3D video chat will be something to look forward to, it'll be a weird concept I imagine.

MortarPosted:

3D video chat? I look forward to seeing how well this works when it is officially released to the public.

SIKSPosted:

I wonder how it was back then using skype in 2003

neboPosted:

10 years already? wow. I would think it would be around 5-6

MultitaskPosted:

Lightyear
Dini
Alberici wow I had no idea skype was 10 wtf I thought it might be like 2 or 3


Haha same never knew it was this old


I thought it was like 6-7 years old haha, really weird!


Haha Same i have only been using skype for about 2 years.

DisequalityPosted:

10 years?! Time has gone quicker than I thought o.o Although MS is coming up with a 2nd year birthday for owning Skype this October