This feature was crucial not only for cross-border communication but also for friends and families living in the same country, who already had wifi at home and at work. By not providing video, Viber replicated basic functionalities of a cell phone, the only difference was that they were free. The choice to exclude video calls was an interesting one. Once installed on a device, Viber would search through the contact list and automatically identify which users already had the app. Started by Israeli and Belarusian founders, Viber was launched in 2010, initially combining the functionality of calling provided by Skype (without video) with ability to share messages, images and locations that Whatsapp gave. Here is why it succeeded.įirst, Viber entered the market more as a direct competition to cell phone sms/call functionalities than Skype per se. And Viber, a free online call and text app acquired in 2014 by Japanese Rakuten for $900 million, is a particularly interesting example. Looking how our family’s communication has changed over the past decade, made me think how software providers fostered the disruption of the telecommunication sector. We all travel lots and increasingly call and text using online free applications. They also switched their cell phone family plan to unlimited data. For the past four years it served mostly to receive random advertising phone calls. Two months ago my parents discontinued our landline telephone service.

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