What is the Line App?
The Line App is a messaging app that was created after the 2011 Japanese tsunami.
As a result of the disaster, many of the usual communication channels were out of order.
The Internet company Naver developed the Line Application for its employees to use to communicate over the Internet.
Later that year, Naver opened the app to the public in Japan, quickly becoming incredibly popular before gaining popularity in other Asian countries.
In a way, this is similar to services like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, which offer virtual stickers, animated emoticons, and games.
At the same time, it’s much more than just these services that give users the ability to call and text friends.
Catch up on the news and entertainment, order a taxi, make mobile payments, find discount coupons and music to stream.
Most of the money for the app comes from advertising and selling virtual stickers and games with cute mascot characters.
When the 218 million monthly active users aren’t enough to illustrate the appeal, a line has also opened physical stores selling items featuring popular characters from games and app stickers.
What you need to know about “Line Messenger”?
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- It is free!
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- No need to update and maintain the app
- Works on computers and mobile. Devices
A suite of messaging apps for the largest tech IPO in 2016; Hope to raise $ 1 billion
- Tokyo: Japanese messaging app Line announced on Monday that it could raise over $ 1.0 billion.
- It is one of the most significant stock sales of the year as it debuts in the market this week.
- The company, looking to expand its fast-growing popularity among smartphone users in Asia, has priced its shares at a peak price of $ 32, indicating strong selling demand.
- Based on this price, the IPO will raise $ 1.14 billion through 35 million shares.
- The option to sell additional shares could trigger an IPO, raising $ 1.3 billion.
- Line, owned by South Korean Naver, trades in New York on Thursday and Tokyo on Friday.
- According to Bloomberg News, the approximately $ 6.9 billion deal was the largest tech IPO this year and the largest in Tokyo to date.
- The popular app allows users to make free calls, send instant messages and post photos or short videos, and many other paid services.
- It combines the attributes of Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp with games and mobile payment service.
- Line messaging service was launched in 2011 after an earthquake, tsunami, damaged Japanese telecommunications infrastructure across the country.
- It forced people to use online resources to communicate.
- It is finest known for allowing users to send cute comics to each other and is very popular in Japan, especially among teenagers.
- The app has a wide presence in Asian markets such as Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia, and some Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain and Mexico.
Line is currently available for download with over 35 apps
- The line is a free messaging app that goes beyond popular services like WhatsApp and offers stickers, social games, video calling.
- And also, it is a range of other companion apps that connect to the service.
- It is 100% owned by Naver, the Korean internet company that started service after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
- Naver chose Japan because he realized he couldn’t compete with Kakao, Korea’s dominant chat app. The line employs around 2,500 people, of which about 1,000 are based in Japan.
- However, Line reported 218 million monthly active users worldwide, with about two-thirds in the four major countries: Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, and Indonesia.
- Despite efforts to grow the user base in Europe and the US through massive advertising in 2013 and 2014.
- The line again focused on Asia and new growth opportunities in the region last year.
- And also, the line is currently available for download with over 35 apps, including the main news app.
- A lite version for Emerging markets, social gaming, music streaming service in Japan and Thailand, Uber rivals in Japan, and the cartoon app Webtoons.
- However, it also offers a payment service available in the Line Messaging app in significant markets.
- The line doesn’t have a large user base of WhatsApp (over a billion active users), Facebook Messenger (over 900 million active users).
- And also, Chinese WeChat (about 700 million active users), is a pioneer in several trends.
- In messaging, especially in terms of monetization.
More pressing issues for the line
1. Addiction to mobile games
- In 2015, games accounted for 40% of the line’s revenue and the largest single income source.
- However, Gambling can be very high, but it is also subject to hobbies and trends.
- Line games have done well, but only an ineffective game can drive a company’s bottom line, as we’ve seen in the past.
- We have relied on a small number of games in the past to generate a significant portion of our mobile gaming revenue.
- And also, we expect this addiction to continue for the foreseeable future, line admitted in a press release.
2. Stagnant user growth
- As stated above, when this is a winner-take-all market, and you are not ahead, it is challenging to conquer new markets.
- It remains to be realized if the line or any other messaging app company will make significant headway on this in New Lands.
- As the current situation on Twitter shows, user growth is vital for any public company.
3. Profitability
- The line was in positive territory in 2014 and posted a net profit of 2,004 million yen, which is about $ 19 million at today’s prices.
- Last year, a loss on investment in new services was 7,972 million yen ($ 76 million).
- With expansion plans still on the horizon, it remains to be seen if they will spiral out of control shortly.
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