QIP

QIP

QIP (Quiet Internet Pager) is the program of short messaging on the Internet. It is created by the Kazan Ilgamom Zyulkorneevym programmer working in St. Petersburg. QIP had about 10 million unique users and 35% of the market of the systems of exchange of instant messages in Russia. Business of QIP was based on providing additional paid services.

Owners of QIP service

• Russian Internet Solutions - the messenger

History

After acquisition of the ICQ messenger by the American company AOL the last wished to earn from users of the program, and began to place advertizing banners in a messenger window. It was not pleasant to users. Programs which installation allowed to get rid of banners began to appear. Then independent developers undertook creation of proprietary client applications functionally identical to the well-known ICQ and working on the same, as ICQ, the protocol (OSCAR).

QIP became one of such programs – in effect, illegal as the OSCAR protocol stopped being closed only in May, 2009 –. Its history began in 2004 when the Kazan Ilgam Zyulkorneev programmer working in St. Petersburg decided to create the messenger for the needs. It was the product with the feature set which is cut down to a minimum and the only task – to transfer and receive messages of ICQ, replacing original client software from AOL. There was a product later under the name QIP 2005 which became very popular.

From the moment of creation of QIP its users regularly faced impossibility some time to use it – as AOL, without notifying developers of the alternative messenger, entered changes in the data transfer protocol.

2005-2011: Gold time

From an interview of Sergey Kravtsov, the CEO of Russian Internet Solutions company (July, 2013):

The QIP 2005 program was made out by top managers of RBC. After long negotiations this product was purchased by the company. They actively pushit it on the market and QIP 2005 collected all traffic of ICQ in Russia - about 80 percent, it had mobile applications on Symbian OS (there was also it) on which day starts were just in fantastic quantities up to 1.8 million daily.

Understanding that the program will not be able to live just long on the ICQ protocol, the decision to protect users from frequent changes of protocols by method to Metakontakta's noukha was made. This technology was thought up and developed already in Russian Internet Solutions separate company which gathered a team of separate developers under one flag and acted as the uniform customer for RBC.

In September, 2008 signed the binding option for acquisition of QIP.

The command of Russian Internet Solutions company convinced Board of Directors of RBC of model of monetization of the messenger, it was not the most obvious solution since in the messenger there was no advertizing. In parallel, together with RBC (Media the World) under the leadership of Mr. Gurevich developed the idea of qip.ru to which traffic from the messenger went. By signing of the contracts with Yandex and creation of internal services rather successful and fast monetization was found. The product was just started on the market and began to skim off the cream.

Frequent attacks on users from ICQ, and afterwards - from Mail.ru Group (which purchased ICQ) forced to adapt a product, to enter new protocols to make the worthy competition to other market participants.

Then there was QIP Infium - the first multilegal client, behind it - QIP 2010 in which the command of Media of the World, well and as continuation of all previous - QIP 2012, our main product which became the main line of QIP on PC more was engaged.

All this time of RBC for RIR was the company of the uniform customer under whom new developers were employed and all our activity was accurately constructed and separated into 2 big modules: the portal on which traffic about QIP 2012 and a product with all versions accumulates.

2012: Change of management in RBC, alteration of the portal

From an interview of Sergey Kravtsov, the CEO of Russian Internet Solutions company (July, 2013):

After replacement of the leadership of RBC (i.e. after leaving of Mr. Gurevich) RBC made several attempts to find the new CEO, as from among own employees, and external. Offered also me, but I refused because of rather high employment at once.

In August, 2012 RBC agreed with one of managers of Rambler who was invited to the CEO's position in Media the World. There was quite serious repartition inside, but at this QIP as a product did not begin to touch.

From September to December, 2012 of RBC tried to find new strategy for the product to raise attractiveness from investors and actively was engaged in search of new models of monetization.

At the end of December, 2012 between the companies of Media the World and Russian Internet Solutions the agreement on attempt to make a new product on the basis of new vision was reached. MM provided product models, as the agreement between two companies the scheme of the license agreement on the non-exclusive rights to the products QIP 2012 QIP Mobile was offered (iPhone + Android). The approved agreements were signed by the parties with a condition of the fastest start of the new concept requiring complete alteration of QIP 2012.

We as development team, expecting the maximum quality from time spent by us, completed the works and issued a new product taking into account all wishes, transferred source codes and as the company owning intellectual property rights went to dig further possible ways of development of the project.

2013

From an interview of Sergey Kravtsov, the CEO of Russian Internet Solutions company (July, 2013):

What do we have at the moment? For July 11, 2013 - the product from RBC is simply not started.

We tried to communicate with a new command responsible in "new RBC", but saw the perfect pofigistichesky relation to questions of production speed of products, to questions of testing, to terms of implementation of the tasks. It became just boring for us. Be engaged in business, having a command which is not motivated on result - not interestingly in partners. Unfortunately.

From an interview of Sergey Kravtsov, the CEO of Russian Internet Solutions company (August, 2014)^[1]:

RBC completely disorganized this project. Everything faded, software is not updated, no new movements happen to a product. I think, the users of QIP who in the nearest future remained will throw it and will leave. By and large, RBC was lost by this market and will not be able to return to it any more.

We fulfilled all contract obligations. The Russian Internet Solutions company still had all rights to this software product. It became very boring for us for them to be engaged therefore actually right after scandal with RBC I brought together the engineers and decided to be engaged in cloud messengers. Since August years I started development of the OMMG platform (Open Mobile Messenger Graph) which became a certain trend on the Internet.

A story with QIP — me is sincerely a pity for it because we very much loved this product, and, unfortunately, at the moment it has no future, and we stopped a full support of users. I think, in the nearest future we will just close it, we will close downloading because the product still remains to ours. We do not want that the product which is not updated already whole year made a bad impression about our former company.

It is simpler to close it completely for users and to reorient them on use of our new developments. We are still perturbed with a position of RBC and even heard that QIP try to sell without us. To us ridiculously to learn it from walls of RBC. Well, we with pleasure want to look at the new buyer.

2014: "We did not swear at Sergey, but also could not come to the mutually advantageous agreement"

From Kononenko Alexander's interview (November, 2014^[2]): QIP several times changed strategy from entertainment portal before especially software landing for the messenger. It represents entertainment portal where there is a search, mail, the messenger and other entertaining sections. It will be important to potential buyers to know that we output the project from an operating loss in zero. This achievement of 2014. Therefore it is possible to buy and invest safely money only in development of the project, proceeding from the interests of the new owner. Yes, there are some difficulties of legal character (the conflict with Sergey Kravtsov). We have no rights to a part of mobile versions of the QIP messenger. All issues are resolved, and there are quite transparent ways for this purpose. You should not return constantly to the joint-stock conflict with Sergey Kravtsov which arose even before arrival of the current managerial command. We did not swear at Sergey, but also could not come to the mutually advantageous agreement. Everyone goes the way. I would suggest to forget about it as about the conflict, and to move on the way of further development of the project by profile buyers or investors.

2015: RBC was sold by the QIP.ru portal and its satellites

The team of players from the market of CPA networks redeemed in the spring of 2015 from RBC the QIP.ru project and all its main satellites^[3].

The transaction included the QIP.ru website and all main satellites: aggregator of news News.qip.ru, educational 5ballov.qip.ru database; entertaining services: selection of tests and polls of Aeterna.qip.ru, astrological information of Horo.qip.ru, service of creation of screenshots of the screen of the user of Shot.qip.ru, system of the forums Borda.ru and Forum24.ru; free hosting of QIP.ru and space for storage and data exchange of Files.qip.ru.

As a part of the portal the mail service of QIP.ru was also sold.

Within strategy for development priority for RBC — business — projects we sold one more large entertaining resource – the QIP.ru portal. The command which works not the first year at the market of CPA networks acted as the buyer and it is interested in further development of the project by its consolidation with the current assets and start of new products based on the QIP brand. One of the major for us tasks – to provide now the most comfortable and technology stable transfer of the project. We calculate that the transient period will be short as the QIP.ru command in full strength passed to new owners. — CEO of Media of the Worlds and deputy CEO of RBC for technologies Alexander Kononenko

You watch also (messengers)

Notes