Viber has been bought by Rakuten, the ‘Japanese Amazon’, which also owns Play.com and Wuaki.tv.
The acquisition could mean significant changes for Viber, the free calls and messaging app. It has a huge user base already at 300 million, but if it was linked with Rakuten’s 225 million users in Japan, it could eclipse competitor LINE.
This is apparently what the company has in mind. Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani noted that Viber already has a great sticker market, and lots of potential as a gaming platform.
This puts Viber firmly in place as a competitor to LINE in Japan and worldwide. Stickers and games have been hugely successful for LINE, whereas Viber so far has focused more on being a good VOIP and messaging app. We can expect that to change, with more of a focus on games and other premium features that have been a huge success for LINE.
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[Source: TechCrunch]