I spotted an interesting news item this morning: Skype now accounts for 12 percent of all international calling minutes. That’s a huge number, especially when you consider that more countries’ international calls are split between local telecomms, as well as online tools like Skype.

Why Skype?

Off the top of my head, I can name half a dozen different tools for making online calls, but I’m probably the only one (I happen to write about the topic for one of my clients). Skype has become the communication tool of choice for digital nomads, students abroad and even folks with long distance relationships. It’s far surpassed its competition.

One of the biggest reasons, I think, is because it reached critical mass far before any of its competitors. One of the people I wanted to talk when I was living in Ireland already had Skype, so signed up for that, rather than any other option. I also got my family to sign up for it so I didn’t have to pay to call those people that I would need to call the most. It’s a snowball effect.

It doesn’t hurt that Skype is incredibly easy to use — if you’ve ever used any instant messenger client, you’re going to figure it out almost immediately. And the options to make calls outside of Skype (SkypeOut) and receive phone calls (SkypeIn) make it a viable option if you’re running a business from your laptop.

Sticking With Skype

Skype’s future is bright: some recent business decisions have opened up opportunities for new development. I think we’re going to see Skype become even more common, making it even easier for all of us to communicate without paying an arm and a leg for international minutes. Skype is already available on most smartphones, after all.