Viber: Expanding Communication on a Global Level

Viber is an Israeli-based mobile application that allows users to make free phone calls and send text messages to other Viber users within its network, under Wifi or 3G/4G. The application has expanded to include Windows and Mac OSX as well. Upon installing the app, an account is made using the user's phone number, and synchronizes with the phone's address book, making the app easy to operate. At the end of last year, Viber Out was launched, which allows users to call mobile and landline numbers at lower rates. Viber Version 2.3 also incorporates "smileys" and other stickers.  The company is run from Israel, but extends its development facilities to Belarus. Viber is currently available in 30 languages, including English, Hebrew, Arabic, Albanian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Urdu, Spanish, and Russian.

Viber was founded and co-owned by four Israeli partners: Talmon Marco, who serves as CEO, Igor Megzinik, Sani Maroli and Ofer Smocha in 2010 initially as an iPhone app, but the company's popularity rapidly increased, and now offers service to a multitude of phone providers, boasting over 200 million users. On February 14, 2014, Japanese Internet services company Rakuten acquired Viber for $900 million. Rakuten, an electronic commerce and Internet company, is the largest e-commerce site in Japan, and one of the largest in the world. This purchase will have enormous benefits in expanding the base of Viber and strengthen communication on a global scale.


Links to information about Viber:

1) http://www.timesofisrael.com/japanese-internet-giant-snags-viber-for-900m/
2) http://viber.com

Viber screenshot.
http://cdn.timesofisrael.com/uploads/2014/02/Download-Viber-2-3-1-0-for-Windows-Phone-8-371702-2-635x357.jpg

Viber's logo.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Viber-logo.png/200px-Viber-logo.png