In a platform that will not only offer communication between its users but also many other services, the Viber, which completed 10 years of operation.
The next step is the piece of payments via chatbots with Mr. Agaoua stating that they have started cooperation with the Google Pay and the Apple Pay with Ukraine being the first country to launch these services, with other markets to follow in 2021.
A little history
Viber started in December 2010 from a love story. One of the two Israeli founders (Talmon Marco and Igor Magazinnik) was in a long-distance relationship and was looking for an inexpensive way to communicate with his other half. The result was the creation of Viber which aimed to offer an alternative way of communication, giving mobile users the opportunity for free international calls. It then evolved into a platform with features such as messaging, group chats, group audio and video calls, communities and chatbots, while maintaining privacy as a key promise to its users.
In 2014 Viber was acquired by Japan's Rakuten, one of the world's leading companies in e-commerce and financial services, while a key moment was the launch of «communities» in 2019 and group audio calls in 2019.
In 2020 Viber announced new features that provided solutions during the pandemic, such as group video calls, and supported its capabilities by doubling the maximum number of participants to 20, both in group audio and video calls.
Focus on safety
One of Viber's big trump cards is the high level of privacy it offers. According to Mr. Agaoua, the emphasis on protection remains at the core of the company's philosophy. «A lot may change in the next few years at Viber, but what won't change is our policy on privacy,» was the typical line from Mr. Agaoua, who was particularly sharp about other platforms, especially Facebook. «People now understand more and are starting to prefer more of a communication platform that cares about protecting their privacy. Some don't care and that's not a problem, let them use Facebook. Some do care and they will use Viber,» was the typical quote from the head of Viber.
Next shots
For the near future, Viber plans to expand its partnerships locally and internationally, and is looking to help local partners expand into other markets.
In addition, interoperability agreements with other communication platforms are planned. In practice, this means that a Viber user could, for example, communicate directly with a WhatsApp user. According to the Viber people, the problem is not so technical as it is required to have an agreement on a common communication protocol. The issue is what happens when the communication involves on one side a platform with end-to-end encryption (like Viber) with one that doesn't offer it. A case where, according to Mr Agaoua, the solution would be to inform users in advance about the level of encryption available.
