Mobile messaging and calling app Viber claims that it has crossed 40 million registered users in India, reports PTI. India is now the biggest market for Viber. In 2013, Viber had 15 million registered users in India, although the exact number of active users was not disclosed. In February last year, Viber had claimed it had 300 million registered users and 105 million monthly active users globally. Note that Viber had been acquired by Japanese membership-based Internet services company Rakuten for $900 million, in February last year. At the time, 31.2% Viber users were in Asia, 24% in Western Europe, Middle East accounted for 12.3%, and South America had 9.8% of Viber users. Public chats in India In November last year, Viber introduced a new public chats service where users could follow and interact with personalities and celebrities like Narendra Modi, Sachin Tendulkar and Priyanka Chopra. These public chats, which are essentially group chats viewable by anyone on the service, allow only a limited number of users to post messages, pictures, stickers and videos. Earlier, in December 2013, Viber had launched a calling service, Viber Out, that will let users make calls to mobile phones and landlines around the world. Founded in 2010, Viber allows users to chat, make free Viber-to-Viber calls, make international and domestic calls on landlines and mobiles (Skype-like) and has features like Viber Games, Viber Stickers etc across web and mobile. It claims to have over 500 million unique users in 193 countries. Competition In 2013, mobile messaging…
