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Japan’s Rakuten moves into messaging with deal to buy Viber for $900m

Feb14
by on February 14, 2014 at 6:36 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, Japan, rakuten, viber

viber android 1 520x245 Japans Rakuten moves into messaging with deal to buy Viber for $900m

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten is moving into mobile messaging after it announced a $900 million deal to buy Viber, the Cyprus-based mobile voice and chat messaging company that claims 300 million registered users worldwide.

A statement from Rakuten explains that Viber “perfectly complements” its digital strategy, which has seen the Japanese firm buy up a range of companies — including tablet maker Kobo and global video site Viki.

“As Rakuten aims to become the world’s number one Internet services company, this acquisition will enable Rakuten to penetrate new markets with multiple digital content offerings, in combination with its e-commerce and financial services platforms,” the company says.

Rakuten has firm grip on the e-commerce space in Japan, where it offers a range of marketplaces for all manner of goods, and it has branched out into banking and financial services, however it is still to replicate its dominance overseas.

The deal for Viber is interesting because — particularly in Asia — messaging apps have become platforms for delivering a range of services, including Rakuten’s specialty: e-commerce. There is also potential for Viber to be used to deliver a range of other entertainment services — such as programming on Viki — and we might see it pre-loaded to Kobo devices.

Irrespective of anything else, the deal illustrates Rakuten’s desire to break out internationally, and the value of messaging services as strategic platforms.

Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakuten Chairman and CEO, said in a statement:

I am tremendously excited to welcome Viber to the Rakuten family. Viber delivers the most consistently high quality and convenient messaging and VoIP experience available. Additionally, Viber has introduced a great sticker market and has tremendous potential as a gaming platform.

Simply put, Viber understands how people actually want to engage and have built the only service that truly delivers on all fronts. This makes Viber the ideal total consumer engagement platform for Rakuten as we seek to bring our deep understanding of the consumer to vast new audiences through our dynamic ecosystem of Internet Services.

The news comes days after Viber was linked with a $400 million acquisition from an unnamed Asian company. Speaking at the time, Viber CEO Talmon Marco denied knowledge of a deal. Viber has not raised outside funding, so the deal is a huge win for its founders.

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a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Japan’s Rakuten moves into messaging with deal to buy Viber for $900m

Feb14
by on February 14, 2014 at 6:36 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, Japan, rakuten, viber

viber android 1 520x245 Japans Rakuten moves into messaging with deal to buy Viber for $900m

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten is moving into mobile messaging after it announced a $900 million deal to buy Viber, the Cyprus-based mobile voice and chat messaging company that claims 300 million registered users worldwide.

A statement from Rakuten explains that Viber “perfectly complements” its digital strategy, which has seen the Japanese firm buy up a range of companies — including tablet maker Kobo and global video site Viki.

“As Rakuten aims to become the world’s number one Internet services company, this acquisition will enable Rakuten to penetrate new markets with multiple digital content offerings, in combination with its e-commerce and financial services platforms,” the company says.

Rakuten has firm grip on the e-commerce space in Japan, where it offers a range of marketplaces for all manner of goods, and it has branched out into banking and financial services, however it is still to replicate its dominance overseas.

The deal for Viber is interesting because — particularly in Asia — messaging apps have become platforms for delivering a range of services, including Rakuten’s specialty: e-commerce. There is also potential for Viber to be used to deliver a range of other entertainment services — such as programming on Viki — and we might see it pre-loaded to Kobo devices.

Irrespective of anything else, the deal illustrates Rakuten’s desire to break out internationally, and the value of messaging services as strategic platforms.

Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakuten Chairman and CEO, said in a statement:

I am tremendously excited to welcome Viber to the Rakuten family. Viber delivers the most consistently high quality and convenient messaging and VoIP experience available. Additionally, Viber has introduced a great sticker market and has tremendous potential as a gaming platform.

Simply put, Viber understands how people actually want to engage and have built the only service that truly delivers on all fronts. This makes Viber the ideal total consumer engagement platform for Rakuten as we seek to bring our deep understanding of the consumer to vast new audiences through our dynamic ecosystem of Internet Services.

The news comes days after Viber was linked with a $400 million acquisition from an unnamed Asian company. Speaking at the time, Viber CEO Talmon Marco denied knowledge of a deal. Viber has not raised outside funding, so the deal is a huge win for its founders.

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a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Xiaomi confirms its first launch outside of Greater China will be Singapore on February 21

Feb14
by on February 14, 2014 at 6:01 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, Singapore, xiaomi

xiaomisg 520x245 Xiaomi confirms its first launch outside of Greater China will be Singapore on February 21

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi’s international plans will take a significant step forward on February 21, that’s the date that the company has just confirmed for its previously announced expansion into Singapore.

Already a hit in China — where it sold nearly 19 million phones last year — the red-hot smartphone maker has quietly expanded sales into Hong Kong and Taiwan already, but the move into Singapore represents its first step outside of Greater China.

Indeed, in preparation for Singapore launch and further global launches, Xiaomi has given its Hongmi (which translates to ‘Red Rice’) device, which will be the first to go on sale, an English name: Redmi.

More importantly though, Redmi — which is Xiaomi’s affordable Android phone — will offer something different to the current market in Singapore.

Priced at SG$169 unlocked (that’s around US$130), it packs a 4.7-inch IPS display, is powered by a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor and includes the same MIUI customization ROM as its mid-range Mi3. No details of other device launches in Singapore have been revealed yet.

China’s tech giants are flocking to tiny Singapore to begin their expansions into Southeast Asia, as TNW’s Kaylene Hong wrote yesterday. It will be interesting to observe how Xiaomi is received by the country’s 5 million population, the majority of whom trace their roots back to China.

High-profile Google executive Hugo Barra was recruited to spearhead Xiaomi’s international development. With Taiwan, Hong Kong, and (soon) Singapore in the bag, we can expect Xiaomi devices to go on sale in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian markets next — but then what?

It will be fascinating to see if, how and when Xiaomi takes a shot at more established markets like East Asia, Europe and the US, where operator subsidies and global brands are central to smartphone sales and deals. Though a different dynamic to China, Xiaomi’s affordable, yet elegant and powerful smartphones could ruffle some feathers in these markets — but there’s a long way to go before that happens.

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