Viber Media
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Rakuten Viber (part of Rakuten Inc.) |
|---|---|
| Initial release | December 2, 2010 |
| Stable release(s) | |
|
|
| Preview release(s) | |
| Written in | C/C++/Python (desktop, using SIP and Qt frameworks), Objective-C (iOS), Java (Android) |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Instant messaging client and VoIP |
| License | proprietary |
| Website | www |
Viber is a cross-platform instant messaging and voice over IP (VoIP) application operated by Japanese multinational company Rakuten, provided as freeware for the Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS platforms. It requires a telephone computer to operate. In addition to instant messaging it allows users to exchange media such as images and videorecords. As of December 2016[update], Viber had 800 million registered users. The software was originally developed by Israel-based Viber Media, which was bought by Rakuten in 2014. Since 2017 its corporate name has been Rakuten Viber. It is currently based in Luxembourg.
Viber Media was founded in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2010 by Talmon Marco and Igor Magazinnik, who are friends from the Israel Defense Forces where they were chief information officers. Marco and Magazinnik are also co-founders of the P2P media and file-sharing client iMesh. The company was run from Israel, with much of its development outsourced to Belarus in order to lower labor-costs. It was registered in Cyprus. Sani Maroli and Ofer Smocha soon joined the company as well.
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". They invested $20 million in the company, which had 120 employees as of May 2013[update].
...
Wikipedia