You, like the others, have probably never heard of Skype Qik, a "short video messaging service" launched by Skype and Microsoft in October 2014. It offered short messages without the need to create an account but only a phone number, something similar to WhatsAPP.
The company finds justification that Qik is implemented in Skype, which already has the option of video calls. And that sending short messages already existed when Qik was released. As such, the Qik application is no longer needed and will be completely shut down on March 24.
The Qik service was purchased by Skype in January 2011 for $150 million, just one month before Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion. The original Qik service was designed for recording short video clips and sharing them among friends.
