Viber, the popular voice over internet protocol (VOIP) has announced a major update to its app, which now offers free messaging and HD quality calls. In addition, the company announced a new feature called Public Chats, a new feature which according to the company will allow users to discover, share and interact with conversations, communities and content on mobile devices. In India, initially the app will be launching in beta.
"In India we are launching with 56 chat partners. We want to ensure every Indian who comes here experiences the chat platform," said Anubhav Nayyar, Country Head for India.
Viber calls the public chats feature live discussions between celebrities and personalities that its users can follow. The company touts it as a new type of social experience as anyone can follow anyone and conversations will include a combination of text, audio, video, stickers, and web linkstands. Public chats include celebrities like Anushka Sharma, Ranveer Singh,Arjun Kapoor, Sonu Nigam, Virat Kohli, Sachi Tendulkar, Saina Nehwal and many more.
The most popular chats will be featured on the home screen of the public chats section of Viber, claims the company.
The company thinks that public chats will be a big deal as it is different from other social networks like Twitter and Facebook, where celebrities go through a lot of trolling. Viber will offer full control over trolling and offer a human side of the celebrities claims the company. "This is not about hosting and sending commercial messages. It is about natural conversations," said Mark Hardy Chief Marketing Officer of Viber.
"We are all about free calls and free messages, and now we are much more. Public Chats is Viber's interpretation of a new social media platform," claimed Hardy.
Indian cricketers Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have a group which already has more than 5,000 followers.
There is a search button which helps users find their favorite personalities.
Viber has 460 million unique users as of 24th November across platforms including iOS, Android and Desktop. It grew to 460 million users from 375 million users in June 2014 in just 5 month. "India is our no.1 market at 33 million users followed by America and Russia," claimed Hardy."Viber is a truly global platform with 29.9 per cent users in Asia Pacific," he added.
Hardy did not beat around the bush and admitted to WhatsApps dominance. "We all know WhatsApp is a big competitor."
Minus China Viber is used by 12 per cent of the users of the world and is number two after WhatsApp. China of course is dominated by We Chat so that number is bound to change if China is added. Viber ranks number 1 in terms of grossing revenue in 34 countries.
Viber reiterates that it is not getting into advertising like other social networks like Facebook. "We are never going to get into advertising. But public chats will help community managers to interact with their audience," claimed Hardy.
Viber is available across a multitude of platforms including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry 10, Windows, Mac, Windows 8, Linux, Symbian, Nokia S40, Bada, BlackBerry 7 and is used in over 193 countries.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/story/viber-announces-public-chats-hd-voice-calls-and-free-messaging/1/403637.html
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