viber owner. Who Invented Viber? History of appearance

Company

Viber Media is an international company based in Cyprus with development centers in Minsk and Israel. The company is developing the Viber application, which allows you to make free calls, exchange free messages between users, send photos and information about current coordinates. Soon, the functionality of the application will be added the ability to make video calls. Viber is #1 social app in the iPhone app catalog in 30 countries. The company was founded by Talmon Marko and Igor Magazinik

The Viber program is blocked in Turkmenistan by two local mobile operators.

Notes

Categories:

  • Alphabetical Software
  • iOS software
  • Android software
  • Instant messaging programs
  • Internet phones

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Onliner.by talked to Sergei Goncharik, one of the developers of the Belarusian-Israeli company Viber, which created the VoIP communication application of the same name. In a short time, the modest program has gathered a huge number of users around the world: today, 180 million people use Viber services. We learned about the features of Viber itself and how it is developed.

- Is Viber being developed in Belarus?

Initially, the programming of the client part was outsourced in Belarus. There were two offices - in Brest and Minsk. Here the main development of client parts is carried out - for iPhone, for Android, for Windows Phone.

It happened historically, and the company itself was born spontaneously. The development of Viber was originally an experimental project - testing the concept as much as possible and how everything would work. It worked, Viber became very popular.

At first, the Viber team had 40 people and they worked under the auspices of ScienceSoft. As soon as Viber became an independent company and moved to a separate office, the staff grew to 50 people. The team is divided into two groups: there is low-level development in C ++ and other developers. We are gradually looking for new employees, we need developers and testers.

The server part is developed in another Viber development center, this division is located in Israel. Different mobile platforms have their own characteristics: sometimes it happens that the developers of the client part cannot solve the problem, then you have to “tweak” the server part. But this happens only in very rare cases.

- Were you afraid of competition with such a big player as Skype?

We do not position ourselves as a competitor to Skype. It is better to develop in your own direction, add your own functionality, relying on mobile gadgets, and not on a computer.

No one initially planned to oppose Skype in our project. In 2010 it was a proof of concept. But it turned out that popularity gained - the client base became very large. We have a different concept and our own vision for the subsequent promotion of Viber. It will be not only text and voice messages, but something more.

After all, there are mobile communication companies that have a relatively small customer base, it becomes problematic for them to compete with large operators in certain markets. It is with such operators that Viber plans to interact in the first place. We will act as a kind of neutral buffer zone.

- Is it true that EDGE is enough for Viber to work comfortably?

Exactly. As for voice transmission, we constantly test the sound quality, try different codecs, and optimize. We are trying to find that golden mean so that you can work confidently with a weak Internet and at the same time the sound quality is good.

- What are the benefits of Viber?

Yes, we have some advantages over Skype. The latter is modeled on the list of added contacts, while Viber uses a phone book model that is familiar and native to the user. In Viber, your phone number is your account. That is, unlike Skype, the user does not need to come up with a name and password when creating an account. You do not need to know the Skype name of the person you want to chat with, send him a request to add to contacts and wait for confirmation.

What's more, Viber works great even if the app isn't running - the user can still receive calls and messages. This is implemented by accepting a so-called push message from the server. When you click "answer", the program starts and the connection takes place in a matter of seconds.

The Viber application, among other things, supports full-screen mode when making calls, setting the program as a regular dialer. That is, without leaving the application, you can make a regular GSM call, exchange text messages, pictures, and information about your location.

Even if you look only at the Windows Phone operating system, then our program works on weaker devices compared to Skype. For example, Nokia Lumia 610 simply won't start, Skype considers the hardware of this smartphone to be too weak. Viber works. C slowdowns, but properly. So we have an advantage.

I suspect that this has happened historically. Indeed, for Skype, the entire architecture was developed taking into account the use on ordinary personal computers. Desktop computers are quite powerful, and, therefore, developers could afford a lot. With the transition to mobile phones, it became obvious: with such an architecture and protocol, it is difficult to make all functions work, so the work of the service can cause criticism. The Viber project was originally developed taking into account the operation on mobile devices. We took into account the limitations of memory, processor power, and approached all resources more economically. That is why Viber turned out to be more “working”, even on weak devices.

The service is quite convenient when traveling - you just need to find a Wi-Fi point and you can immediately call home. Authorization is not built on a combination of a password and a login, but on a mobile phone number and a user's notebook. It is more comfortable.

The first version of Viber for Windows Phone was without voice communication, only text messages were sent. We were then perceived as the main competitors of WhatsApp. In terms of text messages, perhaps it is - these are the main competitors with whom we are constantly compared.

The advantage is that they never had a voice connection. We at Viber decided not to stop only at the text. Initially, the client was created for the iPhone, then for Android, and only then for Windows Phone, S40, S60, BlackBerry, bada. Just the other day, on April 4, we introduced a new version for Windows Phone 8 and for Windows Phone 7.5.

- Tell us about the development of the released application for Windows Phone 8.

Compared to the same Google Play and App Store, there are significantly fewer programs for Windows Phone. In an interview, Steve Ballmer mentioned that the platform is in dire need of popular applications. Viber was also chosen as an example.

Our program on all mobile platforms repeats the structure of the "native" phone application. Under Windows Phone, it was created according to the guidelines of the proprietary Metro interface. This is very important, because a person, having used other smartphone programs, can immediately use Viber with ease.

When we decide to add some feature to the application, we ask ourselves: can we really implement it with mobile restrictions? First we try, because the Windows Phone platform is very young, some development tools are missing.

As you know, Skype was bought by Microsoft and they have special support. The application is well integrated with the People Hub contact book. If a person is in Skype and contacts, he appears in it. At the moment, we cannot afford such an opportunity for Viber, since Microsoft simply does not provide this functionality for third-party developers. Thus, it is possible to connect directly from a notebook in Skype with some person, but in Viber it will not work.

We've asked Microsoft questions about this, but we still haven't received a response. This company is very large, and the coordination of issues takes time, it is difficult to solve problems quickly. But we hope that such functionality will be provided to us. After all, in fact, we are Microsoft partners, Windows Phone developers are interested in our development.

In the first version of Viber, we did not have voice communication, because with the 7th version of Windows Phone, the manufacturer did not provide developers with any functionality for working with sound. Therefore, an application was released purely with text messages.

When we started working with Nokia, the Finnish company provided a library for the normal implementation of voice communications. However, we could add it only for Nokia smartphones, and it did not work for other devices.

Therefore, there were two versions in the Marketplace until April 4: just with text messages, which everyone complains about due to the lack of voice, and a version that only works under Windows Phone 7.5 and only on Nokia devices.

We have many different devices to test. It is critically important to test on weak devices, because they have more memory limitations. For example, the HTC 8S phone is very popular in our team - it is considered weak. On it, all problems immediately manifest themselves. If it works poorly on it, the program must be optimized. On such powerful devices as Nokia Lumia 920, there is little point in testing - everything flies there anyway.

Development for Windows Phone is quite easy, as the platform itself is very well thought out in this regard. I remember Windows Mobile with horror. There everything is much more complicated and confusing.

- How are things going with development on other platforms?

There are problems with development for Android devices, it is very difficult to achieve high-quality work on all the variety of these devices. Well, it is simply impossible to test applications on all models.

Development for Android is more accessible, but there are limitations for iOS and Windows Phone. On the one hand, this puts the work within certain limits, and on the other hand, it simplifies development.

For example, in South America, Viber is popular for phones running bada, because these devices are more common in them. Dynamic success shows Viber in China. Stickers are very popular in Asia - large bright drawings with people, dogs and cats. We plan to expand this functionality soon.

- What are the results of your activities?

At the moment, the Viber database has more than 180 million users. However, in fact, now we are not earning anything, it is more a look into the future. At the moment, Viber is completely free. By the way, the program is used by 90% of the inhabitants of Monaco, this is with a GDP per capita of $178,800 and an average age of 49 years. So the people who work with our application are very different.

Our user base is growing quite quickly: 500 thousand new ones are added every day. We are probably on the right track. In fact, we have big plans, we are not going to rest on our laurels, we will develop and try to please our users with a modern concept of mobile communications. We are actively negotiating with mobile communication companies, we have already signed a contract with the Indonesian operator Axis.

The Viber application is considered one of the most popular and downloaded programs for sending text messages and calling using the Internet. Over 30,000 users have mastered the new utility in the shortest period of time. It gained great popularity, and the number of consumers grew every day. According to the indicators, more than two million downloads of the application were recorded in two months after the release of the novelty on the market. Such a high demand is due to the characteristics and functionality of the utility.

According to BrandInform statistics for 2017, Viber almost caught up with its closest competitor, WhatsApp:

Service functionality:

  1. The account is the customer's cell phone number.
  2. Making phone calls over the Internet.
  3. Exchange of text, video and voice messages.
  4. Ability to make video calls.
  5. Exchange of multimedia files.
  6. The user has the ability to create group chats.
  7. High quality communication.

The previously released Skype application, which allows you to make calls around the world, is gradually fading into the background. This is due to the simpler functionality and interface of Viber. Unlike Skype, which is intended mainly for stationary use, Viber is designed for mobile networks. Users highlight the quality of communication, which is a level higher than that of similar applications.

How the Internet messenger was created

The company - the creator of the popular utility called "Viber Media", whose office is based in the city of Minsk, has reached unattainable heights and earned recognition around the world. The developers of Viber are Israeli citizens - Marco Talmon and Magazin Igor, who are the owners of the company. According to the developers of the messenger, Igor Magazinnik acts as the creator, and Marco assisted in the creation and promotion of the product. After the proposed idea of ​​Igor, a lot of programmers began to work on the production. The company spontaneously launched its operation and rapidly gained a high number of fans. As the developer of the viber program says, the company would not have reached such heights if it were not for the obsession of the creators with their idea.

According to those who created the Viber messenger, the history of the creation of the utility is described in four stages:

  1. A trial version was released in 2010 on the IOS platform, the beta version was available only to Apple users.
  2. After a record number of downloads in the AppStore, it was decided to release a utility for the operating system based on Android and Windows. It happened two years after the launch of the trial version, in 2012.
  3. A year later, in 2013, the developers added a paid feature - making calls to fixed numbers.
  4. In 2014 Japanese firm Rakuten purchased the rights to Viber for $900,000,000. To date, the rights to the program are still owned by Rakuten, which is based in Cyprus.

This is how the company's office in Minsk looks like:

Technical support

The interface of the service is quite clear, but in some cases there are situations when you need to contact the developers to solve some problems. There may be cases when the user does not know how to unlock the account, the application displays a message - "connection error, please check the connection." To solve such problems, a support service has been established in which the user will be helped to understand the current situation at any time.

The technical support service is the help of professionals who know all the nuances of the application. Employees of the service in a short time and in full will solve the tasks. Provide all the information you need to improve your enjoyment of program benefits. Any task, regardless of complexity, is quickly solved. Thanks to this, the subscriber and the service itself, with each resolved issue, is being improved. The support service is absolutely free.

How to contact technical support?

To get answers to all your questions, you need to go to the support site - support.viber.com. To contact the service support, the user needs to perform two simple steps: register on the site, submit an appeal (in accordance with the specified form). In the form that opens, you must specify your name and the subject of the question (select from the list), indicate your phone number, country, e-mail. After filling in all the fields, click the "send" button. After sending the message, technical support will answer the consumer's question within a short period of time. Unfortunately, there is no support hotline number in Russia. It will not be possible to ask the operator a question directly, only through the support service, after filling out all the necessary forms.

In conclusion, we can say that Viber is not just very popular on all continents. According to the characteristics and quality of service, the application deserves the highest ratings. If you use this service and you are interested in this information, you have interesting questions and wishes, leave comments.

Instant messaging systems for mobile phones have long penetrated into our daily lives. Every day, and sometimes even every minute, we communicate with each other through a messenger convenient for us. At the time when Viber appeared, SMOS was just beginning to enter the usual everyday life of mobile device users.

Application creation history

The company that created the app was born spontaneously, the development of viber was an experimental project, the developers wanted to test how the concept would work and whether their viber would work. The initial version of Viber was designed for only fifty thousand users and was released only for the IOS platform. The project started in 2010. In the beginning, outsourcing companies were involved to work on Viber. The team, or those who created the viber, numbered no more than forty people, after the business had begun, the staff expanded to fifty people and the company became independent.

The origin of the idea of ​​creation

Who came up with and implemented this project? The idea of ​​creating VIBER originated in the minds of two young Israelis who were attracted by the growing popularity of free Internet telephony. They found a familiar programmer in Belarus who had previously worked with them on another project, and quickly came with their idea to him in Belarus. Inspiring him with their idea, they began to recruit a team of like-minded people and look for investors for their project. That is why, there is a lot of controversy, whose viber is: Belarusians or Israelis?

Stages of development of Viber

  • Since December 2010, the application starts working on the IOS platform and very quickly becomes popular among users; (up to fifty thousand users)
  • 2011: android version appears; (up to ten million users)
  • since the end of 2012, the function of calls to regular phones is being introduced; (there are about two hundred million active users)
  • 2013: Symbian, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Bada versions are released, versions for computers based on Windows and OS X are released. (There are about two hundred million active users)
  • 2014: Added the ability to free video chats, which previously only worked in the computer version; (about three hundred million people use the app)
  • 2015: it became possible to make money transfers;
  • 2016: the long-awaited function of transferring files of various formats appears
  • 2017: finally solved the problem with changing the number, when changing the SIM card there is no need to register again. (up to nine hundred million people use Viber daily).


About the owners

Until now, disputes about who owns viber have not subsided, but let's start in order.

The first owners were the founders themselves - Igor Mazinnik and Talmon Marko. Both are citizens of Israel. Of course, most of the money to support the project is the money of investors. Until 2014, the wealthy Israeli Shabtai family, Marco and the American company IPS west were the main investors, the rest of the shares were allegedly distributed among the other creators of the messenger.

Since the beginning of 2014, the Japanese Rakuten has become the owner of the company.

Main advantages

  • Lack of mandatory registration linked to e-mail, etc., downloaded the application, entered a phone number, received SMS and use it;
  • Binding application contacts to the phone book, thanks to this, viber quickly became popular;
  • The ability to make phone calls to landline and mobile phones (in the absence of an application), including international calls, at a fairly inexpensive rate;
  • Sufficiently low requirements for a mobile phone, no need to have an expensive device, works with minimal requirements;

  • Very simple and user-friendly interface that supports a large number of languages;
  • Ability to send files of various formats;
  • Supports almost all operating systems;
  • Chat encryption systems have been introduced, messages that are not stored even after deletion in the phone, on the company's servers, it is impossible to take a screenshot in these chats;
  • Western Union money transfer is available.
  • A large number of sticker packs that have become very popular in Asian countries.

It would seem that only seven years have passed since Viber appeared, a program that a group of like-minded people launched into the world in order to just “ check the concept, will it go or not”, and it has already become invisible to many, an obligatory part of their life.

Sergei Goncharik, one of the developers of the Belarusian-Israeli company Viber, which created the application of the same name for VoIP communication, spoke about the features of Viber itself and the intricacies of its development. In a short time, the modest program has gathered a huge number of users around the world: today, 180 million people use Viber services.

About development

The company itself was born spontaneously. The development of Viber was originally an experimental project - testing the concept as much as possible and how everything would work. Viber has justified itself and become very popular.

At first, the Viber team had 40 people and they worked under the auspices of ScienceSoft. As soon as Viber became an independent company and moved to a separate office, the staff grew to 50 people. The team is divided into two groups: there is low-level development in C ++ and other developers. The server part is developed in another Viber development center, this division is located in Israel. Different mobile platforms have their own characteristics: sometimes it happens that the developers of the client side cannot solve the problem, then you have to rely on the server side. But this happens only in very rare cases.

Programming of the client part was outsourced in Belarus. There were two offices - in Brest and Minsk. Here the main development of client parts is carried out - for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.

About competition

Viber does not position itself as a competitor to Skype: it develops in its own direction, adds new functionality, focusing on mobile gadgets, not computers.

There are mobile communication companies that have a relatively small customer base, and it becomes problematic for them to compete with large operators in certain markets. It is with such operators that Viber plans to interact in the first place.

About the benefitsViber

The Viber application has a number of advantages over the same Skype.

The latter is modeled on the list of added contacts, while Viber uses a phone book model that is familiar and native to the user. In Viber, your phone number is your account. That is, unlike Skype, the user does not need to come up with a name and password when creating an account. You do not need to know the Skype name of the person you want to chat with, send him a request to add to contacts and wait for confirmation.

Moreover, Viber works great even if the application is not running - the user can still receive calls and messages. The Viber application, among other things, supports full-screen mode when making calls, setting the program as a regular dialer, i.e. without leaving the application, you can make a regular GSM call, exchange text messages, pictures, location information.

Even if you look only at the Windows Phone operating system, the Viber program works on weaker devices compared to Skype. For example, Nokia Lumia 610 simply won't start, Skype considers the hardware of this smartphone to be too weak.

This is easy to explain: for Skype, the entire architecture was designed to be used on ordinary personal computers. Desktop computers are quite powerful, and, therefore, developers could afford a lot. With the transition to mobile phones, it became obvious: with such an architecture and protocol, it is difficult to make all functions work, so the work of the service can cause criticism. The Viber project was originally developed taking into account the operation on mobile devices - memory limitations, processor power were taken into account, all resources were approached more economically. That is why Viber turned out to be more “working”, even on weak devices.

The service is quite convenient when traveling - just find a Wi-Fi point and you can immediately call home. Authorization is not built on a combination of a password and a login, but on a mobile phone number and a user's notebook. It is more comfortable.

In terms of voice transmission, Viber constantly tests the sound quality, tries different codecs, optimizes so that you can work confidently with a weak Internet and at the same time the sound quality is good. That is, EDGE is enough for Viber to work.

About the results of activities

At the moment, the Viber database has more than 180 million users. However, in fact, now the company does not earn anything, it is more a look into the future. At the moment, Viber is completely free. By the way, the program is used by 90% of the inhabitants of Monaco, this is with a GDP per capita of $178,800 and an average age of 49 years.

The user base of Viber is growing very fast, with 500,000 new customers added every day. Viber has big plans, they are not going to stop there, they will develop and try to please users with a modern concept of mobile communications. We are actively negotiating with mobile communication companies, we have already signed a contract with the Indonesian operator Axis.

The article was prepared by the serviceselection of providers