February 2004

February 23, 2004. Skype Technologies S.A., the Global P2P Telephony Company that offers consumers the ability to make free voice calls using their broadband connections, today announced the world’s first peer-to-peer (P2P) Internet telephony conference calling feature, allowing up to five friends to talk with each other simultaneously, regardless of geography. The new version also includes a multiple call hold feature that allows for 16 callers to be simultaneously put on hold by a single user.

Skype Beta 0.97 furthers the unique feature set that has made Skype the breakout VOIP-category product in the 6 months since its initial beta launch in August, 2003. Skype is currently offered in 15 languages and has nearly 3 million users from more than 165 countries. Skype is averaging approximately 15 new user registrations per minute.

“Skype aims to delight users by offering free global telephony with a superior quality that’s never been heard before,” said Niklas Zennstrom, CEO and Co-founder of Skype. “The free conference calling ability means that people can Skype with groups of their family, friends and colleagues, enhancing real-time communications and the value reaped from their investments in technology and connectivity.”

Skype installs quickly and intuitively, allowing people to use their Internet-connected PC to make and receive free, high-quality phone calls. Like previous versions, the latest offering is free to download and the calls are unmetered and unlimited. Skype Beta 0.97 builds on the already feature-rich product set, including: the user-built global directory; instant messaging; multiple language options; language editor; global hotkeys; call tracking; personal ring tones and call alert options.

“Skype will always provide the free features our users have grown to expect, and we will continue the enhancements in our premium version that will launch later this year,” continued Zennstrom.

“The rapid proliferation of broadband is a tremendous opportunity to get everyone to start using Skype. Internet telephony is in its infancy and our talented team wants to lead the innovations forward — beyond what we can imagine today,” Zennstrom concluded.

You can download and install the latest version of Skype here. Please see our change log for a complete list of improvements.

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