Nimbuzz
Developer(s)Nimbuzz
Kuraakani Online Private Limited
Initial release13 May 2008[1]
Stable releaseAndroid: 7.1.0
(10 March 2019 (2019-03-10)) [±][2]

iOS: 5.11.0
(1 February 2018 (2018-02-01)) [±][3]

BlackBerry OS: 4.0
(10 December 2013 (2013-12-10)) [±][4]

Windows Phone: 1.1.8.1
(16 April 2014 (2014-04-16)) [±][5]
Operating systemAndroid, iOS.
Available inEnglish, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Hindi, Nepali, Arabic and more.[6]
TypeInstant Messaging Client & VoIP
LicenceProprietary
Websitewww.nimbuzz.com

Nimbuzz is a proprietary cross-platform instant messaging and social media and mobile payment developed by Kuraakani Online Private Limited, with the origins of its technology dating back to the early 2000s. As of March 2013, Nimbuzz had 150 million users in 200 countries.[7] By April 2014, Nimbuzz was growing by more than 210,000 new registrations per day.[8] In October 2014, now with over 200 million users, New Call acquired 70% of Nimbuzz, valuing the app at $250 million.[9] Under CEO Sujit Acharya's leadership, Nimbuzz suite of applications enables users to enjoy end-to-end encrypted free calls, instant messaging, games, file sharing,social networking, mobile payments & movies on their mobile device. Nimbuzz has more than 3 million lines of code. Initially, Nimbuzz offered discounted calling rates to most countries in the world.[10] The platform processed more than a billion call minutes and in excess of 100 billion messages a month.[11]

Nimbuzz recently relaunched itself as one of the world's few pure encrypted "SUPERAPP's" with chat, social networking, games, digital wallet, e-commerce, ott, & other unique features all integrated in it.[12][13]

Company history and background

Adopting the Nimbuzz brand from 2004 onwards, the company entered the mainstream Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) market in January 2007.[14] In May 2008, the company launched its combined VoIP and instant messaging client.[1] In January 2009, the company was selected as one of 100 winners of the Red Herring Global 100 technology industry awards for 2008.[15][16]

Early stage investors over three rounds between December 2005 and July 2008 included SkypeMangrove Capital Partners, Naspers and HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, before its eventual majority acquisition by New Call in October 2014. MSM consolidated Nimbuzz with some of its other social media, digital currency, digital wallet, VoIP and instant messaging technologies in March 2017.[17][18]

MSM is headquartered in Dubai with its principal development centres in Gurugram and New Delhi, India, after a relocation in May 2012 to be closer to the mobile Internet boom and rapidly growing smartphone penetration across South Asia.[19][20][21] A fifth of Nimbuzz's users reside in India, and the app accounts for a quarter of the smartphone chat market in the country.[22] The company has over 100 employees in its India development centres[23][11] and about a further 30 in Kathmandu, Nepal.[24] Additional offices are located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in San Francisco, California, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and in Córdoba, Argentina, where a further software development team is located.[25]

Revenue for the company, which in 2015 was reportedly approximately $30 million, comes from NimbuzzOut, e-commerce sales on N-World, from in-app purchases and subscriptions. An advertising and partners' platform provides the majority of the revenue.[26][27] The company also partners directly with telecom operators.[28][29]

Features and functionality

Nimbuzz has been made available for Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS, Symbian, Windows Phone and Java ME mobile operating systems. It was one of the few instant messaging apps available for Java-based phones, and they account for 25% of Nimbuzz users.[30][31][32] For non-natively supported devices, a WAP interface is available. For desktop computers, clients are available for both Windows and Mac OS X. It is available in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Hindi and Arabic.[6]

Nimbuzz users can send XMPP based instant messages, images, and share their location. Group chat is also supported. Voice-over-Internet Protocol calls between most Nimbuzz clients is supported,[33] and there is a VoIP-to-PSTN (landline/cellular) service branded as NimbuzzOut.[34] Nimbuzz can be set up with any valid SIP (VoIP) account.[35]

Nimbuzz supported interaction with popular messaging services such as Twitter, Facebook Chat and Google Talk. In February 2012, Nimbuzz announced the discontinuation of support for ICQ, AIM, Myspace and Hyves because of the general lack of usage of these chat services.[36]

Nimbuzz has an in-app portal called N-World, with applications, gifts, games, avatars and other virtual goods for sale. N-World has its own digital currency called Nimbuckz.[26][37][38]

References

  1. 1 2 "Nimbuzz's All-in-One Mobile IM & VoIP App". gigaom.com. 13 May 2008. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Nimbuzz Messenger on Google Play". Google Play Store. Nimbuzz B.V. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  3. ↑ "Nimbuzz Messenger". iTunes Store. Nimbuzz B.V. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  4. ↑ "BlackBerry World - Nimbuzz Messenger". BlackBerry World. Nimbuzz B.V. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  5. ↑ "Nimbuzz". Windows Phone. Nimbuzz B.V. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Windows Phone 8 – Now Connected!". Nimbuzz blog. 3 April 2013. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  7. ↑ "Nimbuzz reaches 150 million users". Telecompaper.com. 15 March 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  8. ↑ Russell, Jon (24 April 2014). "Nimbuzz targets Skype with deal to pre-install its app on LG devices, with 100 minutes of free calls". TheNextWeb. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  9. ↑ "Messaging App Nimbuzz Goes To UK's New Call In $250M Deal". TechCrunch. 28 October 2014. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  10. ↑ Russell, Jon (22 October 2013). "Nimbuzz Launches Low-Cost International Calls in India". The Next Web.
  11. 1 2 "UK's New Call Telecom buys 70% stake in chat app Nimbuzz for around $175M". VCCircle. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  12. ↑ "Nimbuzz Homepage". Archived from the original on 20 March 2009.
  13. ↑ "Nimbuzz". Retrieved 24 April 2020 – via Facebook.
  14. ↑ "No Buzz for Nimbuzz". gigaom.com. 16 January 2007. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  15. ↑ "Nimbuzz in Red Herring top 100". Emerce (in Dutch). The Netherlands. 21 January 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  16. ↑ "Nimbuzz awarded Red Herring 100". Techwatch. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  17. ↑ Trenwith, Courtney. "Dubai-based social media firm buys messaging app". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  18. ↑ "MSM consolidates Nimbuzz technologies" (Press release). 24 March 2017.
  19. ↑ "Nimbuzz to relocate global headquarters to India". The Times of India. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  20. ↑ "Nimbuzz moves HQ from Netherlands to India". IndianTelevision.com. 14 July 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  21. ↑ "Nimbuzz appoints Vikas Saxena as CEO". TelecomTiger. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  22. ↑ "Nimbuzz chat application relocates global headquarters to India". The Economic Times. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  23. ↑ "Dun and Bradstreet company report".
  24. ↑ "Dun and Bradstreet company report".
  25. ↑ "Company Overview of Nimbuzz B.V." Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  26. 1 2 Wee, Willis (31 May 2013). "Nimbuzz Dominates India and Middle East". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  27. ↑ "Nimbuzz bets big on mobile advertising". Business Line. 6 May 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  28. ↑ "Nimbuzz To Double Manpower, Revenue Growth in 2013". Light Reading India. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  29. ↑ Khan, Danish (28 October 2014). "New Call Telecom acquires 70% stake in Nimbuzz for $175 million". The Economic Times. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  30. ↑ Butcher, Mike (15 March 2013). "Nimbuzz Hits 150M Emerging Market Users, Puts The Heat on Facebook in Asia". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  31. ↑ Kanal, Nishtha (16 March 2013). "Nimbuzz reaches 150 million worldwide user mark". Tech2. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  32. ↑ "Nimbuzz Planning to Join Asia Chat App Wars". Tech in Asia. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  33. ↑ "Alternative To Skype on the Mobile". Nimbuzz blog. 11 November 2010. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  34. ↑ "NimbuzzOut". Nimbuzz. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  35. ↑ "Nimbuzz SIP Settings for voip configuration". voipvoip.com. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  36. ↑ "Discontinuation of AOL, ICQ, MySpace, Hyves". nimbuzz.com. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  37. ↑ "Nimbuzz Support". Nimbuzz. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  38. ↑ "Exclusive: Nimbuzz Update Introduces N-World for Android". Tech 2. 3 January 2011. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
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