Microsoft to launch Teams for Personal Life even as Skype continues to grow popular

More than 40 million people were using Skype for chatting and video calling their friends and family members.

Microsoft has also announced new features for Skype. (Microsoft)

Microsoft recently announced a host of upgrades for its products and services including Edge, Windows 365 and Editor. It also announced Teams for Personal Life that will be rolled out later this year. Team for Personal Life is essentially a consumer version of Microsoft Teams that allows users to share text, audio and video messages with their families and small groups of people. It will also enable them to organise and coordinate events, share information and get on video calls.

As the company announced major upgrades for Teams, it clarified one thing: Skype isn't going anywhere.

"We're pleased to offer tools like Skype to help people to stay in touch with family and friends through chat and video calling," Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's Corporate VP for Modern Life, Search & Devices wrote in a blog post.

He also announced that more than 40 million people were using Skype for chatting and video calling their friends and family members. "Skype has seen an increase in usage, with 40 million people using it daily, up 70% month over month," he wrote adding that the company was witnessing a 220% increase in Skype to Skype calling minutes month over month.

What's interesting is that Microsoft also announced a new feature for Skype that is aimed at helping employees connect with their colleagues more swiftly over meetings. This comes even as Microsoft Teams tries to gain popularity among the masses.

Skype's new feature called Meet Now will allow users to easily create video meetings in "as little as three clicks for free". Simply said, Skype users will be able to use this feature without any additional downloads or payments for the same.