Number of Worldwide Users of NHN Japan's Free Calling and Messaging App "LINE" Exceeds 40 Million

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• Publié par: asianet-kyodo-news-agency
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• Langue: English

Extrait

Number of Worldwide Users of NHN Japan's

Free Calling and Messaging App "LINE"

Exceeds 40 Million

PR Newswire

TOKYO, June 6 , 2012

TOKYO

,

June 6

, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- NHN Japan Corporation announced on

June 6

that the number of registered users for its free calling and free

messaging app 'LINE' (http://line.naver.jp/) has exceeded a total figure of 40

million worldwide, with 18 million in

Japan

, as of the same day (total for both

iPhone/Android combined). The service has been showing rapid growth at a

pace of more than 5 million new users per month, and NHN Japan is now

stepping up a full-fledged expansion of LINE as a platform for other additional

services.

-Graph to show registered user numbers

http://naverland.naver.jp/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/line40million_graph.png

Since the launch of LINE on

June 23, 2011

, this communication app has been

used in over 230 countries worldwide. In just 10 months since the launch of the

service, the number of registered users grew to 30 million, and has since been

increasing at a phenomenal rate of over 5 million new users per month. On

May 12

, the user number was recorded at 35 million and this figure has now

exceeded 40 million as of

June 6, 2012

.

With the rapid growth of the user number in mind, NHN Japan has been

expanding its services using LINE as its foundation. The New 'Sticker Shop' is

one such service, where users can purchase Stickers of popular cartoon

characters to use in their messages. Opened on

April 26

, this first pay-for

service offered by LINE has been an instant success, reaching the number 1

spot for Top Sales apps at App Stores in

Taiwan

and

Thailand

, and acquiring the

number 2 spot in

Japan

. Furthermore, in all East Asian countries, it has scored

very highly across ranking tables, and NHN Japan is receiving many positive

comments regarding the 'Sticker Shop' from users all over the world.

Other expansions of LINE-related services include 'LINE camera' which received

6.5 million downloads during its first month. Together with the release of LINE's

official greeting card app, 'LINE Card' (on

March 28

for iPhone/Android), 'LINE

camera' was released soon after (

April 13

for Android,

April 26

for iPhone) to

expand LINE's usability. 'LINE camera' was an immediate hit, achieving the

number 1 position in the Free Apps category at App Stores in 13 countries, as

well as acquiring the number 1 spot for Camera Apps in over 19 countries

worldwide. In just 1 month since its launch, 'LINE camera' achieved 6.5 million

downloads.

Jun Masuda, Executive and CSMO at NHN Japan (Web Services Division),

commented: "Up until now, LINE was developed to be a communications tool

aimed at providing free calls and free messages. However, based on today's

figure which exceeds 40 million registered users, we see this as a great

opportunity to start a full-fledged development of LINE as a platform for other

additional services, as we have been planning from the very beginning. With

the aim in mind of acquiring 100 million users during 2012, we will keep

improving the user-friendliness of our services, as well as offering our services

on multiple devices with multilingual support, with the intention of developing

LINE as a platform which caters to all users worldwide."

While promoting LINE as a global communications app and increasing the

number of new users, NHN Japan will also continue to push forth the

development of LINE as a service platform, as well as increasing its overall

revenue.

About NHN Japan Corporation

NHN Japan is the local affiliate of Korea's premier Internet company, NHN

Corporation. NHN Japan is headquartered in Shinagawa,

Tokyo

, with Akira

Morikawa as CEO.