How many Skype users?

Through SkypeJournal i downloaded the presentation of Lester Madden, the Skype Platform Manager.

I found an interesting number: they claim they have 196 million users.

This is a false statement as i explained in the past in SkypeJournal in “How many users does Skype have today?”. They should replace the word Users by User Names or Skype Accounts.

I will repeat my statements of that article … some Skype names are not used at all for any of the following reasons (non exclusive list)::

• lost passwords, and therefore inaccessible username
• tests, and abandoned use of the name
• spare usernames, registered for future use (I have several!)
• the owner of the username died (yes, this also happens!)
• the person switched to another VoIP tool
• the person registered a temporary name for a temporary past situation.

Here my updated table, with the number provided by Lester Madden (rounded numbers).One interesting fact however: each 3 downloads generates one new username. Perhaps we can say, out of 3 downloads, two are upgrades, one is a new POTENTIAL user. Compared to last year, this hasn’t changed significantly.

But the question stays open: HOW MANY REAL REGULAR USERS DOES SKYPE HAVE NOW?

My guess: Less than 50 million!