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Viber

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Viber
Original author(s)Talmon Marco, Igor Magazinnik
Developer(s)Rakuten Viber (part of Rakuten Inc.)
Initial releaseDecember 2, 2010; 13 years ago (2010-12-02)
Stable release(s) [±]
Android20.4.3.0[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 2 July 2023; 16 months ago (2 July 2023)
iOS20.4.0[2] Edit this on Wikidata / 4 July 2023; 15 months ago (4 July 2023)
Windows20.2.0[3] Edit this on Wikidata / 12 June 2023; 16 months ago (12 June 2023)
macOS20.2.0[3] Edit this on Wikidata / 12 June 2023; 16 months ago (12 June 2023)
Linux20.3.0.1[4] Edit this on Wikidata / 14 June 2023; 16 months ago (14 June 2023)
Preview release(s) [±]
Written inC/C++/Python (desktop, using SIP and Qt frameworks), Objective-C (iOS), Java (Android)
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeInstant messaging client, VoIP
LicenseProprietary software
Websiteviber.com

Viber, or Rakuten Viber, is a cross-platform voice over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging (IM) software application owned by Japanese multinational company Rakuten, provided as freeware for the Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux platforms.[5] Users are registered and identified through a cellular telephone number, although the service is accessible on desktop platforms without needing mobile connectivity.[5] In addition to instant messaging it allows users to exchange media such as images and video records, and also provides a paid international landline and mobile calling service called Viber Out.[6] As of 2018, there are over a billion registered users on the network.[7][8]

The software was developed in 2010 by Cyprus-based[9] Viber Media, which was bought by Rakuten in 2014. Since 2017, its corporate name has been Rakuten Viber. It is based in Luxembourg.[10] Viber's offices are located in London, Manila, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, and Tokyo.[11]

History

Viber logo 2017-2018

Founding

Viber was founded in 2010 to solve the problem of long distance relationships. Co-founder, Talmon Marco's girlfriend at the time was based in Hong Kong while he was living out in New York City.[12] Living apart but communicating all the time led to very expensive phone bills. Trying to overcome this issue, Marco turned to his friend Igor Magazinnik to find a solution.[12]

Viber Media was founded in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2010 by Marco[13] and Magazinnik, who are friends from the Israel Defense Forces where they were chief information officers.[14] Marco and Magazinnik are also co-founders of the P2P media and file-sharing client iMesh.[15] The company was run from Israel, with much of its development outsourced to Belarus in order to lower labor costs.[14] It was registered in Cyprus. Sani Maroli and Ofer Smocha soon joined the company as well.[16][17][18][19][20][21] Marco commented that Viber allows instant calling and synchronization with contacts because the ID is the user's cell number, unlike Skype which is modeled after a "buddy list" requiring registration and a password.[22]

Monetisation

In its first two years of availability, Viber did not generate revenues. It began doing so in 2013, via user payments for Viber Out voice calling and the Viber graphical messaging "sticker store". The company was originally funded by individual investors, described by Marco as "friends and family".[23] They invested $20 million in the company, which had 120 employees as of May 2013.[24]

On July 24, 2013, Viber's support system was defaced by the Syrian Electronic Army. According to Viber, no sensitive user information was accessed.[25]

Acquisition

On February 13, 2014, Rakuten announced they had acquired Viber Media for $900 million.[26][27] The sale of Viber earned the Shabtai family (Benny, his brother Gilad, and Gilad's son Ofer) some $500 million from their 55.2% stake in the company.[28][29] At that sale price, the founders each realized over 30 times return on their investments.[17]

Djamel Agaoua became Viber Media CEO in February 2017, replacing co-founder Marco who left in 2015.[30]

In July 2017 the corporate name of Viber Media was changed to Rakuten Viber and a new wordmark logo was introduced.[31] Its legal name remains Viber Media, S.à r.l. based in Luxembourg.

Viber has been the official "communication channel" of F.C. Barcelona since Rakuten partnered with the football club in 2017.[32][33]

Market share

As of December 2016, Viber had 800 million registered users.[34] According to Statista, there are 260 million monthly active users as of January 2019.[35] The Viber messenger is very popular in Greece,[36] Eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and some Asian markets.[37]

India was the largest market for Viber as of December 2014 with 33 million registered users, the fifth most popular instant messenger in the country. At the same time there were 30 million users in the United States, 28 million in Russia and 18 million in Brazil.[38] Viber is particularly popular in Eastern Europe, being the most downloaded messaging app on Android in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine as of 2016. It is also popular in Iraq, Libya and Nepal.[39] As of 2018, Viber has an over 70 percent penetration rate in the CIS and CEE regions, but only 15 percent in North America.[40]

Russia

Viber is one of the more popular messenger applications in Russia.[41][42] In January 2016, Viber surpassed WhatsApp in Russia, with about 50 million users.[43] Viber was growing especially rapidly in urban areas like Moscow and St. Petersburg. In April 2016 the usage of Viber in Russia was twice higher than in 2015, it reached 66 million users.[44] By 2018, Viber had reached 100 million users in Russia. [45] Another report from 2017 shows that Russian IM users prefer to use Viber or WhatsApp over other services.[46] In Russia Viber plans to use the method of payment for shopping for goods and services.

Nikolay Nikiforov of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media has declined to comment on the effect that law № 241-FZ (which has restricted use of some other encrypted chats such as Telegram) would have on Viber. [47]

Ukraine

In 2020 Viber Messenger is Ukraine's most popular IM, it is installed on 97% of all Ukrainian smartphones.[48]

Applications

Platforms

File:Viber 1.0.png
Viber 1.0 on iPhone

Viber was initially launched for iPhone on December 2, 2010, in direct competition with Skype. It was launched on the Android platform on July 19, 2012, followed by BlackBerry and Windows Phone on May 8, 2012,[49] and Nokia's Series 40, Symbian and Samsung's Bada platform on July 24, 2012, by which time the application had 90 million users.[50][51][52]

In May 2013 with Viber 3.0, a desktop version for Windows and macOS was released.[53] In August 2013, Viber for Linux was released as a public beta[54] and in August 2014 a final version.[55] In June 2016 a UWP-based desktop application for Windows 10 was released in the Windows Store.[56] The desktop versions are tied with a user's registered Viber mobile number, but can operate independently afterwards.[57] In 2015, a version for the iPad tablet and Apple Watch smartwatch was released.[58][59]

Features

Viber was originally launched as a VoIP application for voice calling. On March 31, 2011, Viber 2.0 was released which added instant messaging (IM) capabilities.[60] In July 2012 group messaging and an HD Voice engine were added to both Android and iOS applications.[61]

In December 2012 Viber added 'stickers' to the application. In October 2013, Viber 4.0 was announced featuring a sticker 'market' where Viber would be selling stickers as a source of revenue.[62] In addition, version 4.0 introduced push-to-talk capabilities, and Viber Out, a feature that provides users the option to call mobile and landline numbers via VoIP without the need for the application.[63] Viber Out became temporarily free in the Philippines to help Typhoon Haiyan victims connect with their loved ones.[64]

Voice support was officially added for all Windows Phone 8 devices on April 2, 2013.[65] In September 2014, Viber 5.0 was released and introduced video calling.[66]

In November 2016, Viber version 6.5 launched Public Accounts to allow brands to engage in promotion and customer service on the platform, with initial partners including The Huffington Post, Yandex and The Weather Channel.[34][67] The app integrates with CRM software and offers chatbot APIs for customer service.[34] Viber Communities, an enhanced group chat feature, was introduced in February 2018.[68]

Group calling was introduced with version 10 in February 2019.[69]

Security

On November 4, 2014, Viber scored 1 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Secure Messaging Scorecard". Viber received a point for encryption during transit but lost points because communications were not encrypted with keys that the provider did not have access to (i.e. the communications were not end-to-end encrypted), users could not verify contacts' identities, past messages were not secure if the encryption keys were stolen (i.e. the service did not provide forward secrecy), the code was not open to independent review (i.e. the code was not open-source), the security design was not properly documented, and there had not been a recent independent security audit.[70][71] On November 14, 2014, the EFF changed Viber's score to 2 out of 7 after it had received an external security audit from Ernst & Young's Advanced Security Centre.[70]

On April 19, 2016 with the announcement of Viber version 6.0,[72] Rakuten added end-to-end encryption to their service, but only for one-to-one and group conversations in which all participants are using the latest Viber version for Android, iOS, Windows (Win32) or Windows 10 (UWP).[73][74] The company said that the encryption protocol had only been audited internally, and promised to commission external audits "in the coming weeks".[75] In May 2016, Viber published an overview of their encryption protocol, saying that it is a custom implementation that "uses the same concepts" as the Signal Protocol.[76]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Android: Viber - Safe Chats And Calls 20.4.3.0". 2 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  2. ^ "iOS: Version History 20.4.0 Jul 4, 2023". 4 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Viber for MacV 20.2.0". 12 June 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  4. ^ "viber.rpm". 14 June 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  5. ^ a b information, Nadeem Unuth Specializes in; VoIP, communication technology with a focus on. "Viber App Review - Free Voice and Video Calls and Messaging". Lifewire.
  6. ^ information, Nadeem Unuth Specializes in; VoIP, communication technology with a focus on. "Viber Out Review - How Good Is Viber for Paid Calling?". Lifewire.
  7. ^ "Viber: number of registered users 2018 - Statistic". Statista.
  8. ^ "About Viber". Viber.
  9. ^ "What Is Viber's Start Up Story? How Talmon Marco and Igor Magazinik Founded The Company". The Greatest Business Ideas, Start-Ups, And Entrepreneurs. 2016-09-09. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  10. ^ "Viber DMCA POLICY". Viber. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Think Global: Cultivating a Global Team Culture". Viber. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Talmon Marco – The Co-Founder of Instant Messaging Software Application 'Viber'". Your Tech Story. 2019-05-17. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  13. ^ Henry Mance. Six things to know about Viber. Financial Times. February 14, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Brett Forrest (August 23, 2012). "The Skype Killers of Belarus". Bloomberg.
  15. ^ "Talmon Marco's profile on LinkedIn". Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  16. ^ Jessica Geller (October 16, 2015). "Messaging app Viber names Boston its US headquarters". The Boston Globe.
  17. ^ a b Assaf Gilad (14 February 2014). "אקזיט ענק: רקוטן היפנית רוכשת את וייבר תמורת כ-900 מיליון דולר" [A huge exit: Japanese Rakot buys Weaver for $ 900 million]. כלכליסט - www.calcalist.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  18. ^ Hillel Koren (14 February 2014). "Viber sold for $900m". Globes.
  19. ^ "Viber DMCA Policy". Rakuten Viber. Viber Media. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  20. ^ "Viber Media". Foursquare. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  21. ^ Brian Blum (March 24, 2011). "Top 10 iPhone apps from Israel". ISRAEL21c. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  22. ^ "Viber For iPhone Aims To Rival Skype's App, Is Amazingly Amazing". TechCrunch.
  23. ^ Juliette Garside (30 Aug 2013). "Viber founder: 'People should be concerned about privacy'". The Guardian.
  24. ^ Parmy Olson (7 May 2013). "Free-Calling App Viber Jumps To Desktop, Hits 200 Million Users". Forbes. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  25. ^ Crook, Jordan (2013-07-23). "Viber Attacked By Syrian Electronic Army". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  26. ^ "Japanese Internet Giant Rakuten Acquires Viber For $900M". TechCrunch. February 13, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  27. ^ "Rakuten Acquires Viber for $900 million". 14 February 2014.
  28. ^ "בני שבתאי את הונו מעבודה בקזינו בסווזילנדהעצום - כל הדרךכוכב שבתאי: כך בנה איש העסקים" [The Star of Shabtai: This is How the Businessman Benny Shabtai Has Amassed His Huge Fortune]. Forbes (in Hebrew). 6 June 2014.
  29. ^ "Most of Viber's owners are based abroad including the Shabtais with a 55.2% stake". Globes. 16 February 2014.
  30. ^ Paul Sawers (2 February 2017). "Viber appoints former AdTech chief to lead the company after more than a year without a CEO". VentureBeat. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  31. ^ Paul Sawers (20 July 2017). "Viber acquires Chatter Commerce, maker of mobile shopping keyboard ShopChat". VentureBeat. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  32. ^ "Viber is FC Barcelona's Official Communication Channel". Viber. 11 July 2017.
  33. ^ "Barcelona launch Viber-backed Camp Nou digital engagement platform - SportsPro Media". www.sportspromedia.com.
  34. ^ a b c Lunden, Ingrid. "Viber follows Messenger, launches Public Accounts for businesses and brands". TechCrunch. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  35. ^ "Most popular messaging apps 2019". Statista.
  36. ^ "The Most Popular Messaging App in Every Country".
  37. ^ "Viber taking on the global giants". Globes (in Hebrew). 27 November 2017. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  38. ^ Naidu, Prasant (1 December 2014). "How India Became The Largest Market For This Instant Messaging VoIP App".
  39. ^ Orpaz, Inbal; Rubin, Eliran (22 June 2016). "The Israeli Answer to WhatsApp Is Big in Eastern Europe - and Iraq". Haaretz.
  40. ^ "Viber is launching Viber Communities, group chats for up to 1B users".
  41. ^ "Viber of Russia". Viber.com. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
  42. ^ "Viber Рейтинг". Viber.com. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
  43. ^ "Viber surpassed WhatsApp in Russia". appleapple.top. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  44. ^ "In Russia, the growing popularity of the Viber messenger | ActualApple.com". Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  45. ^ "26 Interesting Viber Stats and Facts (February 2018)". expandedramblings.com. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  46. ^ "The most popular instant messengers in Russia is WhatsApp and Viber - SEO Hero". seoheronews.com.
  47. ^ "Russia Blocks 50 VPNs & Anonymizers in Telegram Crackdown, Viber Next - TorrentFreak". TorrentFreak. 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  48. ^ (in Ukrainian) Japanese Viber owners open a research center in Kiev , Economisna Pravda (4 February 2020)
  49. ^ "Viber for BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 Now Available". Times Colonist. Business Wire. Archived from the original on May 12, 2012.
  50. ^ "Nokia Store: Download Viber and many other games, wallpaper, ringtones and mobile apps on your Nokia phone". Store.ovi.com. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  51. ^ "Nokia Store: Download Viber and many other games, wallpaper, ringtones and mobile apps on your Nokia phone". Store.ovi.com. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  52. ^ "Viber for Bada - Free messages on Samsung Bada". Viber.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-30. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  53. ^ "Viber announces new desktop app, revamps Android and iOS versions". Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  54. ^ "Popular mobile IM/VoIP app 'Viber' available for Linux". WebUpd8. 26 August 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  55. ^ "Viber 4.2 Finally Released For Linux". phoronix.
  56. ^ "Viber for Windows 10 - Beta No Longer - Viber". 19 July 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  57. ^ Peers, Nick. "Viber for Desktop 10.4.0.54 - Software Downloads". Techworld.
  58. ^ Haslam, Oliver (30 June 2015). "Viber App Launches On iPad, Download It From Here". Readmond Pie.
  59. ^ Rehman, Zayed (28 October 2015). "Viber App For Apple Watch Released". Readmond Pie.
  60. ^ "Skype Challenger Releases Viber 2.0: Free Text Messages And More".
  61. ^ Cooper, Daniel (September 11, 2012). "Viber comes to Symbian, S40 and Bada, adds HD voice calling and group messaging to Nokia Lumia handsets". Engadget. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  62. ^ Russell, Jon (1 October 2013). "Viber Begins Selling Stickers". Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  63. ^ Zibreg, Christian (12 November 2013). "Viber 4.0 arrives with push-to-talk, Viber Out, Sticker Market, tweaks and more". iDownloadBlog.com.
  64. ^ Jr, Victor Barreiro. "Viber expands free call service for PH Haiyan relief". Rappler.
  65. ^ "WP8 Users Rejoice! Viber With Voice For Windows Phone 8 Has Been Released". 2 April 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-02.
  66. ^ "Viber Version 5.0 for Android and iOS, Version 4.3 for Desktop, and Version 3.2 for Windows 8 Launch - TruTower".
  67. ^ "Viber introduces Public Accounts: A new way to reach brands". Rakuten Today. 7 December 2016.
  68. ^ "Introducing Viber Communities". Viber. 27 February 2018.
  69. ^ Christian de Looper (2019-02-04). "Viber is Finally Getting Group Calling and a Slick New Design". Digital Trends. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  70. ^ a b "Secure Messaging Scorecard. Which apps and tools actually keep your messages safe?". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  71. ^ "Only 6 Messaging Apps Are Truly Secure". PC Magazine. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  72. ^ "The Best Encrypted Messaging Apps You Should Use Today [Updated]". 21 June 2018.
  73. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (19 April 2016). "Viber adds end-to-end encryption and hidden chats as the messaging app privacy wave grows". TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  74. ^ Viber Media (n.d.). "Viber Security FAQ". support.viber.com. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  75. ^ Meyer, David (19 April 2016). "Another Big Messaging App Joins the End-to-End Encryption Party". Fortune. Time Inc. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  76. ^ "Viber Encryption Overview". Viber. 3 May 2016. Archived from the original on 11 July 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
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