Skype Qik
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Skype Qik was Microsoft's mobile video messaging app, launched October 14, 2014. It let users record and exchange short video messages with individuals or groups without needing a Skype or Microsoft account—just a phone number. It was the relaunched incarnation of Qik, the mobile live-video service founded in a Silicon Valley garage in 2006 and acquired by Skype for $150 million in January 2011; the original Qik service was retired on April 30, 2014.
02 / Skype Qik FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Skype Qik never gained traction: it ranked #350 in the iOS App Store's Social Networking category and had only 1–5 million Android downloads, roughly 100 times fewer than Snapchat. Its core video-messaging features were absorbed into the main Skype app (along with group video calling and filters), leaving the standalone app redundant, so Microsoft retired it in March 2016.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Launch and relaunch
The original Qik service is retired April 30, 2014; Skype relaunches Qik as the Skype Qik mobile video messaging app on October 14, 2014.
- Shutdown
On February 22, 2016 Microsoft announces it will retire the Skype Qik app on March 24, citing low usage; the app is shut down March 24, 2016, with its features folded into the main Skype app.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
The original Qik was acquired by Skype for $150 million in January 2011; Skype Qik relaunched October 14, 2014.
- 02
Microsoft announced retirement February 22, 2016; app shut down March 24, 2016.
- 03
No reliable company-level loss figure with subject/period/basis was disclosed for the app shutdown.