2 days Ago
Messaging app Rakuten Viber plans to launch its Viber Pay digital wallet service in the Philippines in the second half of 2025, with over a million Filipinos already wait-listed to use the new feature. In a media briefing Tuesday, Viber CEO Ofir Eyal said the company intends to integrate its e-wallet service into the messaging app to lessen the "friction" of switching between payment platforms and messaging apps when making purchases. "What happens today with digital wallets, you usually interact over a messaging app.
.. Then, we move to a digital wallet, make a transaction, take a screenshot, and then we go back to the messaging app and send the screenshot.
That's all friction, and users don't like friction," Eyal told reporters at the briefing in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. "The usage is very strong..
. Save the experience of sending money in the place where we already started the interaction, the messaging app. It's not something that we're totally inventing here, but we're taking these two worlds, and combining them," he added.
Viber Pay is currently undergoing government approval as Rakuten is working to secure operational licenses in the Philippines with their partners. As for the app's future in digital finance, Eyal said Rakuten is looking into forging bank partnerships, developing debit and credit cards, and incorporating a rewards system for users in the Philippines. Viber previously announced that early access to Viber Pay would start in September last year.
Waitlist Today, over a million Filipinos are already registered on the waitlist for Viber Pay. "The waitlist allows us to gauge how much interest there is..
. All the tests were extremely positive. Filipino consumers are very much [leaning] towards best value, so that's what we aim to do," he added.
ViberPay was launched in Greece and Germany in 2022, allowing financial transactions to occur directly inside the messaging application. Users may still sign up for the waitlist through the Viber application. Viber for business Meanwhile, the company announced that it would also expand its toolkits and roll out premium features in 2025.
"Mobile commerce is significantly growing, and it is significantly large here in the Philippines, which is a mobile market first...
Email is still the number one way of interacting with businesses, but it is slowly disappearing out of our lives. People are using more social messaging apps and also texting," Eyal said. Viber intends to launch more forms of advertisements for businesses in the coming months, including full-screen advertisements, video advertisements, and generative response advertisements.
The messaging app also intends to introduce list-messages where users can use templated prompts for general questions, and carousel-type catalogue messages. "This is where Viber business messages come in, where we offer an experience that is win-win-win. It's a win for the user, because a business message is more engaging than a text message.
It's a win for Viber because we get to do more business, and it's a win for the business," Ofir added. Viber reported a 21% growth in monthly users last year, accompanied by a 194% growth in new business accounts opened by small business owners, and a 74% increase in consumer engagement for small businesses. — VDV, GMA Integrated News.
