Microsoft to kill Skype for Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone users stuck on version 7 will have to bid farewell to Skype within the next few weeks. On a support page, Skype parent Microsoft posed the question: "Is Skype for Windows Phone 7 being discontinued?" The response? "Yes." Sometime within the next few weeks, Skype will no longer be available in any form on Windows Phone 7, according to Microsoft. Further, those of you who already have Skype on your Windows Phone 7 handset will no longer be able to log in to the service.

So how big of a problem is that? In June 2012, Microsoft revealed that then-current Windows Phone devices could not be upgraded to Windows Phone 8 due to certain hardware demands. That was slightly more than two years ago. Assuming consumers held onto their existing Windows Phone 7 handsets for the the standard two-year contract, that means most would have upgraded to a new phone by now, most likely running Windows Phone 8. Anyone still using a Windows Phone 7 device, though, would be out of luck.