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Rakuten Group, the biggest in Japan just announced to buy Viber for $900m. Viber is a popular text and voice messaging app for smartphones and tablets. And, it is widely used by a large number of users worldwide.

Viber has seen ups and downs all the way since it launched. Now, they have about 300 million users. A huge success over time. The free app attracted a lot of attention and their popularity increased insanely. Their service is great as well. I didn’t have any problem using their voice service.

Viber works with a range of platform and devices. Their app works on Android, iOS, Windows, BlackBerry, Bada, Nokia, Desktop or Laptop. Regardless, whichever platform you are using and wherever you are, if you have mobile data connection or WiFi, you came make calls or send texts or share picture or files using Viber.

Rakuten group also have nearly 200 million users worldwide. They have acquired a lot of companies and services on their way to increase their kingdom. Now, they want to expand their services and integrate e-commerce for everyone.

The Guardian says, the Viber messaging service will double Rakuten’s users. The acquisition will complete by the end of March 2014.

Viber wasn’t using any annoying advertisement in their app. They have a paid service called Viber Out to call people who are not using Viber app or to call landlines. This service available only for Android iPhone users at the moment. Viber planned to make this service compatible for more devices in the future. After Rakuten buys Viber, will we see the promised compatibility within range of device and platforms?

Sometimes, I wonder that all the big companies are buying out the new and popular small companies or startups. Sometimes, only an app or services. Will we see competitive monopoly market in the future?