Back in 2011, Qik, the video streaming service, was acquired by Skype for a whopping $150 million (this admittedly seems little compared to recent acquisitions like Nokia, Instagram or WhatsApp).
Well the bad news for those who are still enjoying Qik’s services until today, you might be disappointed to learn that the company has recently announced that the service will be officially closing down on the 30th of April 2014.
According to the post on Qik’s website, they have revealed the reason behind the shuttering of the service. “We are retiring Qik as the Qik video messaging technology has now been incorporated into Skype. Users can now enjoy a great experience on Skype with features such as audio and video calling, instant messaging and video messaging with contacts in their Skype and Microsoft networks.”
What this means is that the Qik app will also be removed from the app stores that it is currently available in, and if you have already downloaded your copy, you will find that it will stop working after the 30th of April.
If you have used the service extensively and have uploaded a ton of videos, Qik has also suggested that you go ahead and save them onto your computer or onto a cloud storage service like Microsoft’s OneDrive since the videos will also be removed once the service has been taken offline. Customers who have paid for the service are also expected to be refunded accordingly if they have paid for the service after the cut-off date.