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Microsoft has announced that the Windows Live Messenger brand and client will be retired in Q1 2013.
18 months after Microsoft revealed it was to acquire Skype for £5.3bn, the firm announced that Windows Live Messenger will be replaced with Skype’s messaging tool.
Originally known as MSN Messenger, WIndows Live Messenger launched in 1999. Ten years later in 2009, Microsoft reported that the service had 330 million active users. Recent reports suggest that this figure has fallen to 8.3 million.
Windows Live Messenger will be turned off everywhere by March 2013, except in China.
Microsoft will be offering a tool to migrate all Windows Live Messenger contacts over to Skype to make it as easy as possible for users to adjust to the changes. This will also help Microsoft hang on to its users and deter them away from rival platforms such as WhatsApp Messenger, Google Talk, or AIM.
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