Skype Surpasses 100 Million Users

By the Betanews Staff | Published April 28, 2006, 2:23 PM

Skype said Friday that it had hit 100 million registered users worldwide in its first two and a half years, which it claims is the fastest growth of any Internet program ever. According to the company, the 100 millionth name came at 1:12PM GMT Thursday. This compares with some 54 million in September 2005, when Skype was acquired by auction site eBay for $2.6 billion.

With 100 million users, Skype said a phonebook containing all the names would be some 57,000 pages long. However, the number of people using Skype on a regular basis may be far less than that 100 million number. A check by BetaNews Friday afternoon indicated 5.5 million individuals were logged into the Skype network.

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

http://www.betanews.com/...r_26_Billion/1126540985

Looking at that URL, I first thought that Skype is worth 26 BILLION!!

Score: 0

|

It is the best in its class. It works very fast and require very little bandwidth. It is the best one to be in touch with the long distance people. Yet it require some updates...

Score: 0

|

needs updated versions for linux and mac

Score: 0

|

Just as well we don't get all 100 million logging in at once. There wouldn't be enough bandwidth left on the net for all the spam! ;-)

The most I've ever seen online is about 6 million, and that seems to be exceptional. I guess people are going on and offline all the time.

It's been a life-saver for me - it would have cost me a fortune to keep in touch with my long-distance buddies otherwise.

Score: 0

|

I stopped using it when I realized that I usually have 4+ other computers from other people connected to my computer whenever Skype is running.

This can be seen simply by doing a "netstat" at a command prompt before opening Skpe and then also doing it after Skype has been opened for about 5 minutes.

You have no control over weather your computer becomes a supernode or not.

Skype is very cool but I don't like the unability to not be a supernode.

I realize it's peer to peer but people that I'm not talking to should not be using me as a gateway to others.

Score: 0

|

"I realize it's peer to peer but people that I'm not talking to should not be using me as a gateway to others."

No, I'm sorry. You don't get something for nothing. That's the "cost" you pay for having free Internet telephony and the ability for you to talk to anyone behind a NAT/firewall even if you are.

Score: 0

|

I just started using Skype. Rarely do you find a simply perfect software these days. I love it!

Score: 0

|

I've been using it for some time now, and yes, it's awesome and it is well put together.

Score: 0

|

Will Firefox beat IE9 to Direct2D rendering?

Just days after Microsoft executives gave conference attendees a peek at a new rendering technology, a Mozilla contributor revealed he's working on the same thing.

AOL's decision to rebrand as Aol. takes a bad brand and makes it worse

The idea behind the social Web is to crowd source before bringing out something new. But not at AOL, which new logo debuted with a cry of "fail!" across the blogosphere and Twittersphere today.

Microsoft's Bob Muglia and Ray Ozzie on Silverlight vs. standards

Bob Muglia: "We're trying to provide people with an environment that has capabilities that you just simply can't do today in the standards-based world."

Uh-oh, netbooks -- not Windows 7 -- will lift 2009 PC sales

Santa may bring a lump of coal to the Windows PC industry this holiday season. Netbook sales will sap PC margins, while weak Windows 7 PC sales could further drive down average selling prices.

Kindle 2 update adds battery life, native PDF reader

Amazon has pushed out an update to the Kindle 2 e-reader that lengthens battery life and adds a native PDF viewer.

Safari on iPhone gets competition from a $1 browser app

Apple likes to say it gives iPhone users a full browsing experience, but a new competitor tries to incorporate more desktop browser features.

Action Replay maker sues Microsoft for Xbox 360 'predatory technological barriers'

Third-party video game accessory maker Datel has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft over the Xbox 360's recent Dashboard update.

Where there's smoke: Apple warranty stance raises troubling questions

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: Smoking can be dangerous not only for your lungs, it appears, but for your Apple hardware warranty.

Microsoft's .NET Micro Framework is now free and open source

The latest version of Microsoft's .NET Micro framework is now in the hands of the FOSS community.

Google's value proposition for Chrome OS: Should we feel insulted?

For a search engine that has direct access to all the world's online history, it appears to have taught Google nothing about selling a machine.

E-book readers will be in short supply this holiday season

E-readers are hot this year, and a lot of compelling new products have been released, but are there enough electrophoretic displays to go around?