Chat apps like Whatsapp, Line, and KakaoTalk are cool but Viber is the real dark horse [Startup Asia Preview]

Credit: estadao.com

There’s a lot of hype about chat apps across the Asian region and the world. Whatsapp just announced that it has over 350 million monthly active users, Line is at over 280 million registered users, and KakaoTalk just reached 100 million users. But what we and other international media have all too often ignored is Viber, which recently announced that it has over 200 million registered users.

In Vietnam, where I live, Viber is the dominant platform. Every smartphone user in Vietnam that I know has Viber installed. It leads the market (although Whatsapp numbers are unknown) ahead of the Korean and Japanese chat apps, KakaoTalk and Line, which sit at around three to four million users and local Vietnamese chat app Zalo is over five million. Viber is at the head with over seven million users in Vietnam.

There are a few main reasons for this: 1) Viber is one of the first movers in this space. 2) It’s very simple 3) It’s free 4) and it allows for free calling, which Vietnamese people especially like. No doubt these above reasons are also why Viber has been able to climb to 200 million users worldwide, unseen by Silicon Valley folks who are so singularly focused on Whatsapp.

At Startup Asia Jakarta I’ll be interviewing Talmon Marco, CEO of Viber, on stage at 2:10pm on November 22nd. I’ll be grilling him for 30 minutes on a few key things including:

• What are Viber’s plans for Asia?
• What does Viber think of the Asia-made chat apps in the space?
• What were keys to Viber’s success worldwide? Can the strategy be replicated for younger startups?
• How does Viber make money?

If you’re also curious about anything regarding Viber or questions you’d like to ask Talmon Marco while I’m on stage, feel free to submit a question or comment on our spiffy question widget here.

If you haven’t gotten your tickets to Startup Asia Jakarta on November 21 and 22, get them now.

(Editing by Steven Millward)