Tuesday, January 22, 2013

"Line Messaging App Hits 100 Million Users; Sets Sights to U.S."

Line Messaging App

Line, a messaging app created by South Korea-based Naver Corp, has announced it has crossed the 100-million-user mark globally just 19 months after the app was originally launched. The app has been popular in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, and several markets in South America.
While Naver did not divulge Line’s daily or monthly active users, the number of downloads alone puts it up there among the top mobile messaging applications. That says a lot in an industry that many competitors such as WhatsApp, WeChat, KakaoTalk, Facebook Messenger, Skype, and Viber.
Like most other messaging apps, Line provides users free voice calls through WiFi connection as well as instant messaging. But Line has a goofy side, as users can send each other silly emojis and stickers from bunnies with flames in their eyes to teddy bears juggling eggplants. Many of these stickers are free, but users can purchase premium stickers, which brings income to Naver as high as $3.75 million a month as of July 2012.
Apart from selling stickers, the app earns from sponsored brand accounts that users can befriend or follow, as well as through sponsored sticker packs.
After becoming successful in several markets, Naver sets its sights to the United States and is signing up celebrities such as Snoop Dogg in an effort to attract teens and twenty-somethings into using Line.
The question now is whether Line would become a hit in America, which has been dominated by Facebook Messenger in terms of market share and active usage.
Source: TechCrunch

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