Viber - How do they make money

kippy

Et Cetera wrote: »

Yes, but if you use Facetime over 3G whilst disabling the Face aspect of it, it's data based video calling, incorporate this with iMessage and it's Apple trying to remove phone carriers. Everything to data instead of the 'x amount of calls/texts' sham.

Its not just apple......this kinda stuff has been around years but mobile carriers are not very willing to see it proliferate (I believe SIP/VoIP are even disabled on some mobile data connections.
Phone networks will be very slow to allow this kind of technology to gain the upper hand.

cookie1977

I dont know. I think we're seeing the networks slowly realise that data is the future. They are moving to fully monetising data by cutting allowances and selling customers larger data add-ons.

Dr Nic

Can someone clear this up?
Someone told me recently that viber was totally free.
I thought it wasnt, thinking its just skype with a different hat on. So you're paying for the megabytes of data you send which viber converts using VOIP.
But, i was over ruled by someone saying - no vibers is completely free

EoghanConway

kippy wrote: »

I believe SIP/VoIP are even disabled on some mobile data connections.

UDP, on most networks.

cookie1977

Dr Nic wrote: »

Can someone clear this up?
Someone told me recently that viber was totally free.
I thought it wasnt, thinking its just skype with a different hat on. So you're paying for the megabytes of data you send which viber converts using VOIP.
But, i was over ruled by someone saying - no vibers is completely free

It uses data so if you pay for data you pay for viber. Most people have a data allowance. If you're with three it may even be unlimited. And in that sense it costs those people nothing extra.

Viber

Hi all,
This is a member of the Viber Development Team.

I'd like to refer to your questions and concerns in this thread:

Viber is a free service - both the application itself and its features inside.
Further, I’d like to reiterate the five commitments we made when we launched the company:
1. The Viber software will always be free.
2. Viber for iPhone and Android (and soon for other devices) will never display any ads.
3. Viber to Viber calls will always be free.
4. Viber to Viber text messages will always be free.
5. We will never sell, rent or in any other way abuse your personal information.

I would like to clarify: we DO NOT sell users' information to third-parties, and we DO NOT benefit from cellular calls you make using the "normal call" feature inside Viber (that diverts the call to be a regular, cellular one).

So why is Viber free?
For now, Viber's focus is on adding platforms, adding features (such as text messages) and improving overall system performance. At the same time, we are working on additional future premium services that will generate revenues. The basic Viber service - Viber to Viber phone calls and text messages - will ALWAYS be free.

If you have any more doubts, feel free to ask
Regards,
Viber.

Gregor Samsa

cookie1977 wrote: »

According to their founder they haven't decided how they'll make money

Oh man! I'm around long enough to remember the first time this happened. Take a seat by the fire, kids, and listen to ol' grandad Phutyle's internet war story.

Once upon a time, there was the dot com bubble. The business model was a bit like the underpants gnomes in Southpark. People assumed that money could be made on the internet, so doing business on the internet would make you money. So, it didn't matter what you spend, or how little you charged - you were on the internet and money would appear somehow. Some venture capitalists seemed to think this all made sense, and actually threw money at these companies, and decided to leave such insignificant details as "making a profit" off to some unspecified point in the future.

Then reality hit. Everything dot-bombed around 2000, and investors began to realise that maybe it would be a good idea to know where your profits might come from before throwing millions at yet another "portal".

A few years passed, people forgot the dot-bomb era, and then Web 2.0 came along (exactly the same as Web 1.0), and with it, social networking, VOIP, microblogging, etc. People love social networking, free calls, and all that, right? So we can provide a free service and get loads of people to use it! And if people use something, then it must be valuable, right?

Wrong.

Basically, the business models of a lot of these companies seems to be "get users, sell ourselves to someone who sees a way of making money from these users". And it works for some. The founders of MySpace made $580 million from it's sale to News Corp in 2005. Not bad at all. Of course, News Corp sold it for $35 million last week, after pumping who knows how many millions into it over the past 6 years. So, maybe there's another dot-bomb on the horizon? Those who forget the past are condemend to repeat it.

Now, get off my lawn.

Mellor

Mellor wrote: »

i
My prediction, viber remains free, service is restricted (calls per day, elngth of call etc)
ViberPro gets released

Viber wrote: »

So why is Viber free?
For now, Viber's focus is on adding platforms, adding features (such as text messages) and improving overall system performance. At the same time, we are working on additional future premium services that will generate revenues.

:D:D

phutyle wrote: »

Basically, the business models of a lot of these companies seems to be "get users, sell ourselves to someone who sees a way of making money from these users". And it works for some. The founders of MySpace made $580 million from it's sale to News Corp in 2005. Not bad at all. Of course, News Corp sold it for $35 million last week, after pumping who knows how many millions into it over the past 6 years. So, maybe there's another dot-bomb on the horizon? Those who forget the past are condemend to repeat it.

But that's complete different.
MySpace failed because facebook was better.
Facebook has huge avertising revenue from all that nonsense that appears to the left.

Viber has said that won't advertise. They could of course go back on their word, but that would alienate users and therefore cause the value (to a new owner) to crash.
I preduicted a Pro version, the post above confirmed that they are working on it. This appears to be the newest model for onlines business.
Get a great idea
make it free and get everyone using it
Get a better version and make it a paid Pro version. (look at IMDB)

Notice they never said that the free version would always be unlimited.

Viber

But your prediction wasn't accurate
We won't restrict it to a limit of calls per day, as you suggested.

Our basic services will be open and free for all, unlimited.
IN ADDITION, we will have payed premium services.

Gregor Samsa

Mellor wrote: »

But that's complete different.
MySpace failed because facebook was better.
Facebook has huge avertising revenue from all that nonsense that appears to the left.

Viber has said that won't advertise. They could of course go back on their word, but that would alienate users and therefore cause the value (to a new owner) to crash.
I preduicted a Pro version, the post above confirmed that they are working on it. This appears to be the newest model for onlines business.
Get a great idea
make it free and get everyone using it
Get a better version and make it a paid Pro version. (look at IMDB)

Notice they never said that the free version would always be unlimited.

My point in mentioning MySpace was that the business model of "build it up and sell it", while popular, isn't sustainable. You're right that MySpace failed because it wasn't as good as Facebook. And it happened pretty much in the blink of an eye. Which just goes to show how fickle (or savvy) users are. They'll move on to the next big thing, and toss you aside like a used tissue. And once they're gone, you're a has-been, and you'll never get them back. Seeing how Facebook fare over the next decade is going to be very interesting. Google have tried about 4 times now to release a "Facebook killer", and have fallen flat on their faces each time. And you would think if anyone can unseat Facebook, it's Google. But Facebook's popularity is a lot to do with fashion - it's the place to be, because everyone else is there. Next generation coming up might not be so happy to be "friends" with their parents and annoying aunts. Facebook's killer will probably come completely out of left field, and I'm sure a lot of wealthy people are pumping a lot of money into a lot of startups, hoping that they'll somehow strike lucky.

As for the "pay for pro" business model (which I don't really think is new, by the way), at least that's a good honest way of trying to make money: Charging for a service. But the problem is that you all it takes is for a competitor to do for free (while they figure out a way to make a profit) what your pro version does for 9.99 a month, and whooosh!, off they go. Pay for pro can work well, if you have a product that users are loyal to, but that loyalty is really hard to come by in the online world of "free".

I doubt very much that IMDB makes a clear profit from the Pro version subs, but that's hardly important. IMDB are owned by Amazon, so the original owners made their money already, and Amazon gets to use it as an advertising space for DVDs (as it uses Digital Photography Review for advertising cameras). It's just a cog in a bigger machine.

Advertising really is where it's at when trying to make money off free stuff on the web. The only problem is, only so many people can do it successfully at any given time. So be successful in making money from ads, you need to be sticky - which means your users are on your site/app/platform all the time, and not someone else's. Facebook get this, and have been freakishly good at keeping eyeballs on their pages. Google (through embedded Google Ads) have even figured out a way of making money when people go off their site. But the opportunities for these kinds of revenues from advertising are limited, and the success stories few and far between.

Anyhoo, best of luck to Viber, and hopefully they figure out a way of making money in this game.

trad

Viber, OP here.

Any release date for the blackberry app? Wife and other daughter just bought blackberrys and wee all want to have access to viber (I know, they should have bought i-phones)

cookie1977

trad wrote: »

Viber, OP here.

Any release date for the blackberry app? Wife and other daughter just bought blackberrys and wee all want to have access to viber (I know, they should have bought i-phones)

No they shouldn't, BlackBerry's are great :P But I second the query

Mellor

Viber wrote: »

But your prediction wasn't accurate
We won't restrict it to a limit of calls per day, as you suggested.

So I was half right :D:D

phutyle wrote: »

Google have tried about 4 times now to release a "Facebook killer", and have fallen flat on their faces each time. And you would think if anyone can unseat Facebook, it's Google.

Latest attempt was out this week "Google+"

I doubt very much that IMDB makes a clear profit from the Pro version subs, but that's hardly important. IMDB are owned by Amazon, so the original owners made their money already, and Amazon gets to use it as an advertising space for DVDs (as it uses Digital Photography Review for advertising cameras). It's just a cog in a bigger machine.

I was jsut using IMDB as an example of a site that built up a huge user base first then brought pro features. Without the user base they profeatures wouldn't have gotten exposure.
I doubt its much of an earner, very small percentage of people use it I imagine. Mostly industry professionals at a guess.

And agreed, best of luck to Viber

trad

cookie1977 wrote: »

No they shouldn't, BlackBerry's are great :P But I second the query

They bought the wrong phone for free call to Australia. Blackberry's are great, i've never seen the wife so interested in a phone.

MJ23

Havent done a Viber call yet, a friend of mine said it was terrible, said it was like talking to someone in outer space, time delay, could barely hear other person etc.

kippy

MJ23 wrote: »

Havent done a Viber call yet, a friend of mine said it was terrible, said it was like talking to someone in outer space, time delay, could barely hear other person etc.

Thats rarely the fault of the app itself but more to do with the data connection on your phone and that of the phone you are calling at the time of the call - same as any call over the internet.

naasrd

phutyle wrote: »

...So, maybe there's another dot-bomb on the horizon? Those who forget the past are condemend to repeat it.

There has to be one on the way, the recent valuation of Facebook is all you have to look at. Either the people who make these valuations were kids when the last one happened and don't know about it or think it can never happen again.

Viber

MJ23 wrote: »

Havent done a Viber call yet, a friend of mine said it was terrible, said it was like talking to someone in outer space, time delay, could barely hear other person etc.

As kippy mentioned, the problem you are describing is usually caused by the fact that 3G networks are a little disrupted in quality. Try it a Viber call between 2 WiFi connections and see what the quality is like.

trad

And the release date for the blackberry app?

Viber

trad wrote: »

And the release date for the blackberry app?

Viber for Blackberry is planned, but we don't know yet when it will be ready. The reason for the delay is that Blackberry is much more technologically complex than iPhone or Android (it doesn't support VoIP basically).

We started putting more focus on it in the past few weeks, and if we have any news, we will announce it.