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No. 10: Kakao Talk
Kakao Talk's total registered users currently reaches 62 million, mainly aiming at the Korean market. According to statistics, 95% of South Korea's smartphones are loaded with it, and the twelve language versions are being promoted to more than 200 countries around the world.
When the Kakao team first started its business, they chose to put Kakao Talk on their computers, but it was still lukewarm. Until they saw the popularity of smartphones, they transplanted their products to almost all mobile phone platforms, launched the "Gift Gift Coupon" and the game platform, and the number of users began to grow explosively, which brought a lot of revenue to the company. Because they are similar to WeChat in basic functions, and Tencent acquired 13.54% of their shares, Kakao Talk is called "Korean WeChat" by Chinese fans.
Ninth place: BlackBerry BBM service
The BlackBerry BBM service was originally an email information service equipped with BlackBerry phones. Its popularity among high-end business people at that time has always occupied a certain position in chat software. Its excellent encryption and its ability to maintain stable characteristics when the phone signal is poor made its fans proud. In the famous "9.11" incident, New York communications fell into paralysis, and the White House lost contact with the World Trade Center rescue site. Fortunately, US Vice President Cheney, who used BlackBerry, successfully connected the disaster scene with BBM services, saving countless lives. Therefore, BlackBerry was called "Superman" by Americans and became famous.
Since then, BlackBerry has updated new features such as pictures, videos, voice, files, etc., and has launched Android and Apple mobile versions, making more and more people fall in love with BBM services. Although BlackBerry's sales are declining now and many countries are banning the use of BlackBerry BBM services due to security considerations, it currently has more than 91 million users.
Eighth place: Line
Line was developed by a Japanese subsidiary of South Korean Internet Group NHN. It was originally intended to replace the communication system destroyed after the 2011 Japan earthquake and help people contact their loved ones. However, unexpectedly, it has now gained 180 million users worldwide and has become one of the favorite chat softwares for young people around the world. The road to success of Line, born in Japan, is also full of a strong Japanese atmosphere.
Unlike other chat software that focus on the software itself, Line's social functions are not outstanding, but the series of "chat emoticon stickers" they created are very popular. NHN also followed suit and created stories and animations for the characters in the emoticon stickers. Since then, they have brought them to the three dimensions and launched various dolls and surrounding physical stores. Now, people can be seen queuing around the world to enter Line's surrounding physical stores to take photos.
Seventh place: KiK messenger
KiK messenger is a very pure mobile chat software and does not have many peripheral functions. However, relying on the earlier release time and the viral transmission marketing method of reading contacts, KiK messenger has gained 200 million users worldwide. It is said that this software also inspired Xiaomi and Tencent to develop MiTao and WeChat respectively. At that time, netizens also called MiTao and WeChat software "KiK-like software".
Sixth place: Viber
Viber currently has 236 million users worldwide. Its feature is that you can use online voice, video, and text communication without registering and logging in, and directly use your phone number. Interestingly, its founder is from Israel. He developed Viber in Cyprus and founded the company's research center in Belarus. The company was later acquired by Japan's Rakuten Group. The most popular country in Viber is Thailand, known as Thailand's "national software".
Fifth place: Skype
Skype was developed as early as 2003. It has functions such as video chat, file transfer, multi-person voice conferences. In 2010, the cumulative call time had reached 250 billion minutes. In 2013, Microsoft acquired Skype to replace the previously failed instant messaging software MSN. With the help of Microsoft, Skype now has 300 million registered users, which is the first choice for conference calls and video interviews for many large companies.
Fourth place: QQ
As one of China's earliest online instant messaging software, coupled with Tencent's excellent operation and promotion capabilities, QQ has always been China's national software and an important pillar of Tencent's empire. Although QQ's performance declined when the mobile Internet was on the rise, it was surpassed by "brothers of the same family" WeChat not long ago, through Tencent's series of younger measures, QQ has been favored by most people born in the 1990s and 2000s. According to statistics, QQ's current active users have reached 783 million.
Third place: WeChat
Although it is 11 years younger than its "brother" QQ, the development speed of WeChat is a myth on the global Internet. Within 10 years, WeChat's users have exceeded one billion. From the initial chat to the current public accounts, wallets, and mini programs, WeChat has made itself and Tencent a major role in popularizing the Internet in China.
Second place: Facebook Messenger
Although the early Facebook Messenger only had a simple live chat function, it relied on Facebook's huge fan base and had an enviable number of users. In recent years, Facebook has begun to add cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, VR, AR, etc. that the company has researched, making it a test field. Currently, Facebook Messenger has more than 1.3 billion active users.
First place: WhatsApp
WhatsApp was released when smartphones just started in 2009. Relying on a large number of functions developed for mobile user needs, WhatsApp slowly accumulates its own users. Since then, due to its acquisition by Facebook, WhatsApp has become a choice for Facebook users outside of Messenger. Compared to Messenger, which has been added with more and more functions, more people have chosen the purer WhatsApp. Cooperation with Apple has put WhatsApp on the throne of the world's number one chat software, with global users exceeding 1.5 billion.
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