Microsoft Teams and Skype users will be able to call and message each other by the end of this month. As spotted by Dr. Windows, Microsoft has postponed release date for the Teams/Skype Consumer chat and calling interoperability from the end of March to the end of May 2020. The software giant has quietly updated the Microsoft 365 Roadmap entry over the weekend.
As a reminder, the integration for Skype and Microsoft Teams has been on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap for quite a while now, and Microsoft originally promised to release the feature in April of this year. With this feature, Microsoft probably hopes to push more users towards Microsoft Teams by offering Skype/Teams interoperability. It will allow users to contact each other across the two services by using their email addresses. However, Microsoft explains that the capability will be disabled by default in Microsoft Teams, and Office 365 admins will have to enable it manually in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Microsoft Teams has been one of Microsoft’s fastest-growing apps since launch, but it has been experiencing unprecedented growth since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Skype also benefited from the rise of video calling apps, though it clearly didn’t get the same level of momentum as Teams or Zoom. As Microsoft Teams will soon allow users to add their personal Microsoft account to chat with friends and family, and it will be interesting to see how Teams and Skype will coexist in the next couple of years.
