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Tag: Viber

  • Viber launches a unique Business Calls service

    Viber launches a unique Business Calls service

    Viber announced a unique service that allows users to make free international calls to landline numbers directly through its Business Calls app. The new tool makes it easier for Viber users to track their orders, get support in the retail and delivery sectors, or simply assist them with product inquiries.

    Specifically designed for businesses, the new service allows early adopters to create searchable business accounts with an embedded Viber Business Call button or add the tool to their existing accounts in the app.

    “Nine years ago, Rakuten Viber was the first messaging app to offer business messaging, revolutionizing how businesses communicate with their customers. Since then, we have developed a robust business messaging ecosystem and are now taking a significant step forward by introducing in-app Business Calls, a distinctive offering in the market,” says Cristina Constandache, Chief Revenue Officer at Rakuten Viber.

    Additionally, users can initiate a call directly from a chat with a business. At the same time, brands can include a Viber call link on their websites to make it easier for customers to get in touch with them.

    More importantly, all business calls will be free for customers, regardless of where they’re calling from. It’s also important to add that businesses can designate a specific number for Viber or continue using their regular call center number.

    According to Viber, the new Business Calls service is now available globally. If you’re a business, you’re advised to contact the Viber team to learn how to get started.

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  • Viber rolls out a new suite of business tools and they’re free

    Viber rolls out a new suite of business tools and they’re free

    Following WhatsApp, Viber announced a new set of business tools for small and medium-sized businesses. In an attempt to turn its app into a “communications hub for a wide range of businesses,” Viber is now rolling out several new features that will be available for free for small and micro businesses.

    Inspired by the company’s successful Viber Business Accounts for enterprise-sized level businesses, the free offering includes new features such as:

    • Public business profiles (Businesses can create a public, searchable business page featuring all essential information. The profile can be shared with customers inside the app or even with people who are not Viber users yet.)
    • 1:1 customer chats (Businesses can respond to customer requests right away over instant messaging.)
    • Discoverability through Viber search (Businesses can find and retain loyal customers on their preferred day-to-day conversations app, where customers can discover local products and services by searching for the business name or category.)
    • Dedicated chat folders (Businesses can conveniently store customer messages separately from personal messages with family and friends. Users will also have easy access to a separate Business Inbox folder for storing their conversations with businesses.)
    • Product catalog (Business owners can effortlessly add new products or services to their business page’s catalog. Customers can explore and inquire about the items by sharing the link to the product directly in the chat.
    According to Viber, these free business-oriented features will be followed soon by more services aimed at medium-to-large business accounts. It’s not clear if these will also be available for free, but it’s unlikely.

    The company’s new self-serve business accounts are only available in Greece and the Philippines for the moment, but they will be launched in additional countries soon.

    Viber also plans to add more useful features like broadcast messages, voice calls, as well as quick and automatic replies for small businesses. More importantly, Viber says that “tailored pricing plans” will be offered based on market feedback to expand the initial set of free self-serve business features.

  • Viber launches two new features for Premium users

    Viber launches two new features for Premium users

    It’s been less than a month since Viber launched its premium service in the United States and several other countries, and the company has just announced it’s now rolling out two new features to those who chose to pay to be Premium users.

    So, if you’re paying for Viber Plus, you should be getting two new important features: Invisible Mode and Read Voice Messages. Both should further enhance privacy and ease of communication on Viber.

    The new Read Voice Message feature turns voice messages into text so any message can be ready anytime, anywhere. Invisible Mode is just as useful since it allows users to read messages and browse on the platform privately.

    Not only that, but users will also be able to see who is online while their own status shows offline. More importantly, thanks to Invisible Mode, you’ll be able to open messages without revealing that it’s been read.

    “With such a wide user base, we want to continue expanding our services to offer seamless and easy-to-use communication tools that work for our global users. Additionally, anonymity and privacy is what makes Viber a leading super app. These features add new value to Viber Plus and boost the overall experience for our users,” said Ofir Eyal, CEO of Rakuten Viber.

    And if you don’t have Viber Plus yet, perhaps these two new features will make you start paying for it. To go premium, you’ll have to pay just $1.99 per month, and you’ll be getting not just new features but also stop seeing ads.

    The new features will be rolled out to the premium service for iOS in the US, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Switzerland, Kuwait, Australia, Tuvalu, Israel, Sweden, Austria, India, and Italy, with additional regions added on a rolling basis.

    According to Viber, Android users where Viber Plus is available will have access to the two new features sometime in September.

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  • Viber rolls out disappearing messages feature in group chats

    Viber rolls out disappearing messages feature in group chats

    After surpassing one billion Google Play downloads worldwide, Viber announced a new feature that was previously available only for one-on-one chats: disappearing messages. Starting today, Viber is rolling out this option for group chats too.

    More importantly, users won’t need to go through a multi-step process to change the status for messages in the group, as the feature has been implemented so that members can easily toggle it on and off right within the chat.

    On top of that, Viber added new functionality to the feature, so users can now set messages in a group chat to disappear 10 seconds, one minute, one hour, or one day after being read. Furthermore, on devices running Android 6 and up, Viber will completely disable forwarding, copying, or taking a screenshot of a message when the disappearing option is enabled.

    For those using older Android smartphones, as well as all iOS users, group chat members will be automatically notified if a member of the chat takes a screenshot of a message set to disappear. Although Viber personal and group chats are end-to-end encrypted, the new feature will surely add another layer of security for both Android and iOS users.

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  • Snapchat brings its AR Lenses to Viber on Android and iOS

    Snapchat brings its AR Lenses to Viber on Android and iOS

    Viber and Snap have teamed up to bring the latter’s new AR Lenses to the messaging platform. The partnership will integrate AR Lenses in the Viber app, enable sharing to Snapchat, as well as bring customizable Bitmoji avatars to the messaging app.

    The new feature will offer Viber users AR-enabled video messaging for the first time ever. In addition to bringing AR Lenses to its app, Viber also launched 30 new lenses, including animal masks and characters, an underwater lens, goofy cat interactions, and more.

    At least 20 additional lenses are supposed to be launched every quarter, while businesses will get the chance to create their own exclusive lenses on Viber. Speaking of businesses, Viber has already revealed that FC Barcelona, the World Wildlife Federation, and the World Health Organization will be among its first partners to offer new lenses on the messaging app.

    The adoption of Snap’s Camera Kit, Bitmoji, and Creative Kit will allow Viber to add new features to its messaging app, including instant AR (augmented reality), new filters, expressive masks, beautification features, and customized Bitmoji.

    Viber also plans to offer sponsored and branded lenses to ensure a stable revenue stream. According to Viber, the new features are now available for iOS users in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Maldives, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA.

    The AR Lenses are only available on the beta version of Viber for Android, but the company promised to make these new features available to all Android users by the end of August. The same goes for Viber users in countries other than those mentioned above.

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  • Rakuten drone network under development

    Rakuten drone network under development

    US company AirMap is helping develop technology to manage a Rakuten drone network in Japan.

    Rakuten, Japan’s giant online retail platform, and AirMap hope drones will be allowed to be used at low altitude.

    Rakuten set a world record early this year for the longest drone delivery, flying a container of hot soup 12 km to surfers on a beach.

    CEO Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani expects drones to revolutionise the delivery sector. “The capacity in the skies above us is far greater than in the roads beneath our feet,” he has written in a blog post.

    Global rival Amazon is also making a push into drone deliveries.

    With more than 14,000 employees and revenue last year of more than ¥781.9 billion (US$6.8 billion), it is pushing to become a tech giant on the scale of Alibaba or Google.

    So committed is Mikitani to going global that he made English the official company language in 2010. This helped the company dispense with the honorifics and deference of Japanese, and also made it easier to hire foreigners, reports CNN Tech.

    Rakuten takes Japan’s “high-quality, really customer-oriented service mind” and mixes it “with the Silicon Valley, little bit techie, dynamic culture,” says Mikitani.

    A household name in Japan, Rakuten spent $900 million to buy messaging app Viber in 2014, and has also invested in startups such as US transportation company Lyft and Pinterest.

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