Skype has always been synonymous with video calling over the internet. If you want to make a video call, the first thing that comes to your mind is using Skype. The company’s name has become a verb in such a way that to say Skype me has become part of the modern tech age. However of late, we have had other providers in the video calling business like the proprietary Facetime that was introduced by Apple and by messaging apps Viber and Facebook Messenger.
The Microsoft owned company yesterday celebrated a decade of offering video calling by introducing group video calling on Windows Phone, Android, iPhone and the iPad apps. Gurdeep Pall, Skype’s Chief Vice President announced it via a Skype video chat that was uploaded on the company’s YouTube account.
The new group video calling feature will be rolled out in the coming weeks but Skype has created a form where you can pre-register to get the preview of the new feature. Skype also took the time to announce another milestone: Nearly 2 trillion minutes of Skype video calls have been made for the last decade, which is a crazy amount by all measures. The company also revealed that 750 million people have downloaded Skype on various mobile platforms which puts it as one of the most downloaded apps ever on mobile app stores.
We have seen a resurgence by the company where they have constantly updated the apps with features like video message filters, a translation engine and also an addition of a share button for websites. Skype needs to remain relevant in this highly competitive sector of messaging apps and we have to see what more they have in store so as to be competitive.
