Who invented WhatsApp and Viber - briefly?
Jan Koum and Brian Acton created WhatsApp in 2009. Djamolkhod Nignzadeh founded Viber in 2010.
Who invented WhatsApp and Viber - in detail?
WhatsApp and Viber are two of the most widely used messaging applications in the world, and their inventors have significantly shaped the landscape of digital communication.
WhatsApp was created by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, both former employees of Yahoo!. Born in Ukraine and raised in the United States, Jan Koum had a background in infrastructure engineering at Yahoo!. In 2009, after leaving Yahoo!, Koum decided to explore the nascent world of smartphone applications. He saw an opportunity to revolutionize mobile communication by creating a messaging app that would run on various platforms and be more user-friendly than traditional SMS.
Koum was joined by Brian Acton, another former Yahoo! employee with experience in infrastructure management and advertising. Together, they developed the initial concept of WhatsApp, focusing on simplicity and ease of use. The application was launched on January 24, 2009, for the iPhone, and later expanded to other platforms such as BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, and Symbian.
The success of WhatsApp can be attributed to its user-friendly interface, cross-platform compatibility, and the ability to send multimedia messages including text, images, video, and audio. In 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for approximately $19 billion, making it one of the largest acquisitions in the tech industry.
Viber, on the other hand, was invented by Talmon Marco and Igor Magazinik. Born in Israel, Marco had a background in telecommunications and entrepreneurship. He co-founded several companies before creating Viber. Igor Magazinik, also from Israel, brought his expertise in software development to the project.
Viber was launched in December 2010 as a voice over IP (VoIP) application that allowed users to make free phone calls using their internet connection. The initial version of Viber was released for the iPhone, and it quickly gained popularity due to its high-quality voice calls and ease of use. Viber expanded to other platforms such as Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Symbian, and later added features like text messaging, multimedia sharing, and video calls.
In 2014, Japanese tech giant Rakuten acquired Viber for approximately $900 million, further solidifying its position in the global communication market. Today, both WhatsApp and Viber continue to evolve, introducing new features and improving user experience to meet the ever-changing demands of digital communication.
In conclusion, Jan Koum and Brian Acton are responsible for creating WhatsApp, while Talmon Marco and Igor Magazinik invented Viber. These applications have transformed the way people communicate worldwide, offering convenient, cost-effective, and feature-rich platforms for messaging and voice calls.