Instant Messaging (IM)
technology is a type of
online chat that offers
real-time transmission
over the internet.
More advanced instant
messaging can add flie
transfer,clickable
hyperlinks, voice IP, or
video chat.
By 2010, instant
messaging over the Web
was already in sharp
decline, in favor of
messaging features on
social networks such as
Facebook and Twitter.
Most instant messaging
takes place on
messaging apps, which
by 2014 had more users
than social networks.
Line, a messaging app made by South Korea's
Naver Corp. that took off in Japan, just crossed
100 million users globally 19 months after it
originally launched. The app is one of the
leading contenders in smartphone messaging in
Asia and faces off against Tencent's WeChat
and KakaoTalk.
Line launched in Japan in 2011, reaching 100
million users within eighteen months and 200
million users only six months later. Line became
Japan's largest social network in 2013. In October
2014, Line announced that it had attracted 560
million users worldwide with 170 million active user
accounts. In February 2015, it announced the 600
million users mark had been passed and 700 million
were expected by the end of the year. It is the most
popular messaging application in Japan. It is also
popular in Taiwan, Thailand and Turkmenistan.
Line was originally developed as a mobile application
for Android and iOS smartphones. The service has since
expanded to BlackBerry OS (August 2012), Nokia Asha
(Asia and Oceania, March 2013), Windows Phone (July
2013), Firefox OS (February 2014), iOS tablets (October
2014), and as a Chrome Browser Application (via the
Chrome Web Store). At one point, Line was available as a
website (non-browser-app), but it has since been
discontinued. The application also exists in versions for
laptop and desktop computers using the Microsoft Windows
and macOS platforms.
Is a freeware app for instant communications on electronic devices
such as smartphones,tablet computers, and personal computers.
Line users exchange texts, images, video and audio, and conduct free
VoIP conversations and video conferences.The service is operated by
Line Corporation, in a Japanese subsidiary of
South Korean internet search giant Naver Corporation.
Viber Media was founded in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2010 by
Talmon Marco and Igor Magazinnik, who are friends from
the Israel Defense Forces where they were chief
information officers.
In its first two years of availability, Viber did not
generate revenues. It began doing so in 2013, via user
payments for Viber Out voice calling and the Viber graphical
messaging "sticker store". The company was originally
funded by individual investors.
Djamel Agaoua became Viber Media CEO in February
2017, replacing co-founder Marco who left in 2015.
In July 2017 the corporate name of Viber Media was
changed to Rakuten Viber and a new wordmark logo was
introduced. Its legal name remains Viber Media.
Viber is a cross-platform instant messaging and voice over
IP application operated by Japanese multinational company
Rakuten, provided as freeware for the Microsoft Windows,
macOS, Linux, Android and iOS platforms.
Viber was initially launched for iPhone on December 2,
2010, in direct competition with Skype. It was launched on the
Android platform on July 19, 2012, followed by BlackBerry and
Windows Phone on May 8, 2012, and Nokia's Series 40,
Symbian and Samsung's Bada platform on July 24, 2012, by
which time the application had 90 million users.
In July 2013, a desktop version for Windows and macOS
was released. In August 2013, Viber for Linux was released as a
public beta and in August 2014 a final version. In June 2016 a
UWP-based desktop application for Windows 10 was released in
the Windows Store. Viber is one of the more popular messenger
applications in Russia.
Kakao Company was founded by Beom Soo Kim in
the year 2010. He is the former CEO of the NHN
Corporation. The company is based in Seoul, South Korea.
The current CEO of the company is Kae-Beom Lee and his
partner Sirgoo Lee. In the year 2013, the company has a
revenue of nearly 200 million dollars, through gaming,
mobile commerce, digital content and its marketing
channels for celebrities and brands. It has its first profit of
42 million dollars in the year 2012.
The Kakao Corporation was named as the top developer in the
Google Android Market and aslo was chosen as the No.1 SMS app
by the Cnet. According to the AppAnnie report in 2013 it is the third
top publisher through monthly revenue in Google Play. The Kakao
Talk Corporation is also the top publisher for Google Play and iOS in
South Korea. It is also the top app for Android and iOS Play revenue
in South Korea.
KakaoTalk launched March 18, 2010 and gained by 57 million
registered users by August 2012 while it jumped to 130 million users
in January 2014.
KakaoTalk or sometimes KaTalk, is a free mobile instant messaging
application for smartphones with free text and free call features. It was
launched on March 18, 2010 and is currently available on iOS, Android,
Bada OS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Nokia Asha, Windows and
macOS.
As of May 2017, KakaoTalk had 220 million registered and 49 million
monthly active users. It is available in 15 languages.[1] The app is also
used by 93% of smartphone owners in South Korea, where it is the
number one messaging app.
In addition to free calls and messages, KakaoTalk users can share
diverse content and information including photos, videos, voice
messages, location, URL links as well as contact information. Both one-
on-one and group chats are available over WiFi, 3G or LTE and there
are no limits to the number of friends who can join in on a group chat.
KakaoTalk automatically synchronizes the user’s contact list on their
smartphones with the contact list on KakaoTalk to find friends who are
on the service. Users can also search friends by KakaoTalk ID without
having to know each other's phone number. The KakaoTalk service also
allows its users to export their messages and save them for future
reference.
WeChat began as a project at Tencent Guangzhou Research
and Project center in October 2010. The original version of the app
was created by Zhang Xiaolong and named "Weixin" by Ma
Huateng, Tencent CEO and launched in 2011. The government has
actively supported the development of the e-commerce market in
China—for example in the 12th five-year plan (2011–2015).
By 2012, when the number of users reached 100 million,
Weixin was re-branded "WeChat" for the international market.
WeChat had over 889 million monthly active users in
2016, 90 percent of whom were in China. For comparison,
Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp (two other competitive
international messaging services better known in the West)
had about a billion Monthly Active Users in 2016 but did not
offer most of the other services available on WeChat.
WeChat is a mobile text and voice messaging
communication service developed by Tencent in China, first
released in January 2011. The app is available on Android,
iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows and Phone platforms.
WeChat has over 700 million downloads, with 300
million active users. This makes it one of the most popular
social apps in the world, and a valid competitor to
WhatsApp and Viber.
WeChat has multiple features including video chat,
voice calling, SMS, games, QR code scanning and much
much more.
WeChat offers full M-commerce capabilities inside the app.
WeChat was built and owned by Tencent Holdings
Limited, which is China’s first globally known Internet brand.
First released in August 2003, Skype was created by the Swede
Niklas Zennström and the Dane Janus Friis, in cooperation with Ahti
Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn, Estonians who developed the
backend that was also used in the music-sharing application Kazaa.
Skype was founded by Estonian developers Zahti Heinla, Priit
Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn, Danish developer Janus Friis and Sweden’s
Niklas Zennstrom. The foremost voice-over-IP service was launched in
August 2003. Skype actually stands for “Sky Peer to Peer.”
The original Skype application permitted voice calls from
PC to PC and little else. Skype’s original logo was purple.
Skype’s 0.9 Beta created the platform to permit calls to
landlines from PC’s on a fee schedule. Through the evolution
of various Skype upgrades, the company continued to
experiment with different colours before finally settling on the
current blue background.
After the original 0.90 Beta, Skype released several
subsequent versions (0.97, 1.0 and 1.4 Beta). Version 2.0
Beta was released in 2005. This version revolutionized the
Internet call industry and paved the way for the greatest and
most expansive Internet communication app. The 2.0 Beta
program first introduced video calling using a greatly
simplified new design and a simplified interface.
If you pay a little, you can do more – like call phones and
send SMS. You can pay as you go or buy a subscription,
whatever works for you. And in the world of business, this
means you can bring your entire ecosystem of workers,
partners and customers together to get things done.
Skype is a telecommunications application software
product that specializes in providing video chat and voice
calls between computers, tablets, mobile devices, the Xbox
One console, and smartwatches via the Internet and to
regular telephones.
Skype is software that enables the world's
conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use
Skype to make free video and voice one-to-one and group
calls, send instant messages and share files with other
people on Skype. You can use Skype on whatever works
best for you – on your mobile, computer or tablet.
Skype is free to download and easy to use.