How Microsoft Let Skype Lose Out to Zoom
Good article on another Microsoft failure. Internet Explorer had 95% market share in 2001. Now, it’s less than 5%. Skype isn’t the only high-flying product that Microsoft has fumbled. Two decades ago, Internet Explorer, its web browser, was so dominant and popular that it drew the attention of federal antitrust regulators. In August, Microsoft plans to sunset Explorer, about a month after it does the same with Skype for Business, the corporate version of its videoconferencing tool. In 1985, when Microsoft launched its Windows operating system, it ushered in the personal computer revolution by giving consumers and businesses an affordable, reliable and easy-to-use product. But Microsoft was so tethered to desk-top computers, it failed to recognize how the internet would shake up its business in the 1990s, and how mobile devices would do the same in the 2000s. It neglected to tailor its offerings to those new worlds. By the time the coronavirus showed up, Skype had perhaps 23 million users. That figure climbed to 70 million during the pandemic, according to the Verge, but the product still lost ground to Zoom. Zoom was easier to use, especially for non-techies, and far less riddled with bugs and glitches. Dozens of people could appear on a Zoom screen, not so with Skype. And it was easy to invite people to chat because new Zoom users needed only an email address to join, not a full-blown account. Zoom, which has overcome many security concerns about its platform, says its total “daily meeting participants” grew during the pandemic from 10 million to about 350 million. (The company doesn’t provide specific user data so its audience size can’t be directly compared with Skype’s.) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-04/how-microsoft-let-skype-lose-out-to-zoom
That’s nothing. A company called Interactive Intelligence had a product exactly like Zoom in 2010. They just sat on it. Also, Microsoft had a product called NetMeeting that was also exactly like Zoom. I remember using NetMeeting in 1999 and 2000. NetMeeting was EXACTLY like Zoom. Microsoft and Interactive Intelligence just sat on those awesome and innovative products.
2000 was still dialup era in many places with shitty webcams in 144p video, no smartphones, low tech penetration etc. They were too early with video conferencing.
True. Most were on dial up. I had ISDN back then. Had Microsoft just kept the product going—they would have had another killer app. Interactive Intelligence just didn’t push their product, and killed it when they got bought by Genesys.
Zoom has a better name.
Yes, branding. Thats why bluejeans never picked up. Tf kinda branding is that
Maybe BlueJeans folks thought that an acronym would catch up for their product and users will sync over phrase "quick BJ?"
Isn't Zooms stock price back down to pre-pandemic levels?
Skype had very less use before pandemic. No one could have predicted pandemic. Msft's goal was slack competitor before and during pandemic and on that it has done well. IE got fucked because of anti trust regulation. Windows phone were better than android, but google outright blocked all google products in windows phone that led to its demise, or at least one of the reason. Msft doesn't block any app on windows like chrome slack zoom etc. Could kill those products in their infancy if it wanted.
Skype was always, and still is Hot Garbage.
And yet, Microsoft went on to hit many all-time highs. They focused on their profit-generating business units instead.