Abstract
In August 2003, Skype was created and placed on the market by two Europeans who had created the software Kazaa which allowed 400 millions of Internet users to download for free, songs and movies (illegal web site). The two creators Niklas Zennstrom from Sweden and
Janus Friis from Denmark have their headquarters in Luxembourg. At the beginning of its creation, Skype was supposed to be called "Sky peer-to-peer", then "Skyper", but finally they chose "Skype". This name is from now on synonymous of a huge success. Skype has
revolutionized the Internet telephony market.
Indeed, this software application allows people to communicate by the voice through the Internet for free. This process is called "voice over Internet Protocol" (VoIP). Instead of calling from a phone to another phone, Skype offers to call a phone from a computer or to call a computer from another computer. All services are not free. Since 2007, Skype created fee services, such as the call from the computer to a cellphone. The fees for an international phone call with Skype are much cheaper than with a regular phone company. Low prices represent an important competitive advantage for Skype. Today, Skype offers a large range of products: calls to phones, mobiles or computer, video calling, instant messaging and SMS, voicemail, exchange of files, and Skype manager with conference calling and so on.
