Messaging app Line, which got its start in Japan, has now passed 300 million registered users, about 100 million of which signed up in the last four months, according to a statement released by the company on Monday, November 25, 2013.
The company has stated that it had 5 million registered users in just three weeks after its official launch. Then it took 19 months to reach the first 100 million users, 6 months for the next 100 million, and 4 months to get from 200 million to 300 million users. The massive leap has proven that the app's growth is clearly accelerating.
Line began its service as a response to disaster. Japan's devastating Tōhoku earthquake in March 2011 damaged telecommunications infrastructure nationwide, obliging employees at NHN Japan to rely on internet-based resources to communicate. The company's engineers developed Line to facilitate this. NHN Japan released Line for public use in June 2011. Since then, the free voice calls and text messages service has grown quickly in East Asia and other markets by letting users post digital stickers in messages to friends.
"We are extremely pleased to have achieved our target of 300 million users for the year in such a short time after clearing the 100 million user mark only in January. As the global market shifts towards smartphones, Line has made its mark by providing value as a tool that stimulates communication through its expressive sticker messages, convenient voice and video calls, and games that users can enjoy with their Line friends, setting it apart from other simple communication tools that merely function as text messengers," said Akira Morikawa, CEO of Line Corporation.
With a new user milestone reached, it's facing a bigger challenge against other messaging apps: South Korean's KakaoTalk with 110 million users, China's WeChat that claims to have 600 million users, Canadian's Kik with 90 million users. WhatsApp messenger is holding a strong ground with 350 million active users.
Because new generation of messaging apps are not really all about messaging, and are currently becoming a mobile platform, Line has taken its path not only in Japan, but also in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia. And it fast growing also in Europe and Latin America. While in the U.S., its numbers have declined lately.
The company says it’s now gaining a foothold in Spanish-speaking countries.
Messaging apps have adopted different strategies. For Line, messaging is a front door to an experience that then opens up to include games, photosharing, stickers, and an app store, which drives downloads of its other apps, including Camera and Tools. Kik is really just a mobile web browser that hosts its own HTML5 apps, which third-party developers can now build. KakaoTalk has its own virtual eBay. And in China, people use WeChat to pay for purchasing products.
The most talked-about component of Line, is its integration of an overwhelming amount of 'fun' into the app. Users can slap stickers and emoji (animated and sometimes elaborate emoticons) into their messages, often in the form of playful, cartoon baby animals. A matching game which can be played with other Line users involving candy and animal heads is also built into the service.
Big Ambition from the Start
As a company, Line has big ambitions by aiming for large numbers right from the start. After reaching 100 million users in its first 19 months, it took only six months to add the next 100 million, and another four months to get to 300 million. "We're now developing Line into the world's top communication service," said Akira Morikawa, in a statement.
Besides selling select premium stickers, Line makes money by charging brands, including Coca-Cola, Toyota, and McDonald’s, to operate official accounts on the service.
In an interview, Morikawa indicated the company has no plans to introduce third-party advertising directly into users' timelines, home pages or around messages to preserve the user experience. He also suggested mobile advertising rates outside the U.S. tend to be very high, making a fee-based model more practical globally.
Besides its text messaging, video chatting and novelty stickers, Line also offers its own games, with total downloads surpassing 220 million.
While it still has a challenge on its hands to drive away users from Western favorites like WhatsApp and Facebook, Line continues to grow its following in Asia and while Japan forms the base of operations for the app, overseas messaging accounts for roughly 80 percent of its business.
Given the success of Twitter's initial public offering, Line stands to benefit from the hot market for fast-growing messaging apps.