Bangkok--28 Nov--Spark Communications
- Astonishing achievement only four months after surpassing 200 million users
- Poised to achieve 500 million users in 2014
LINE, the world’s leading mobile platform, announced that its user number surpassed the grand milestone of 300 million[1] worldwide.
Since its launch on June 23, 2011, LINE has seen an astonishing growth in its user base around the world by offering a rich variety of features from voice and video calls to sticker messages.
As Thailand is one of LINE’s most important markets, LINE has continued to develop features and services to offer fun and engaging mobile experiences beyond Thai user’s expectation. In addition, LINE has joined with local companies to help them engage with their customers. These include some of the best known names in Thailand from a wide range of businesses, including financial institutions, fast food outlets & restaurants, insurance companies, and entertainment. A recent collaboration that brings even more fun and enjoyment to LINE users is Kasikornbank’s official account featuring “Brown & Cony in KBank’s world” stickers. These stickers represent how people use banking services and were so popular they were downloaded over 3 million times one day after the release.
LINE also launched its first TV commercial in Thailand, the first of a series of three adverts based on real-life stories of Thai users who love LINE. The three stories tapped into the Thai community and were selected through the ‘LINE Story Contest’. The first and the second LINE TV commercials have already been aired with the final story to follow soon.
To thank Thai fans for their support, LINE has also launched localized LINE special stickers that are specially developed exclusively for Thai users. The stickers, featuring Cony, Brown and James, LINE’s original characters, demonstrate their wonderful life in Thailand.
LINE’s latest development in Thailand is the launch of “LINE Next”, a campaign to search for the best of young Thai talent. The competition is open to university student, with the best of the bunch getting the opportunity to join the LINE team at the end of the competition.
In addition to East Asia, where LINE has already established a strong foothold, user numbers are also growing steadily in Hispanic regions such as Spain and Mexico. Currently, the company is focusing on the acquisition of new users in India, Turkey, and West European countries including France, Germany and Italy by carrying out localized promotional campaigns and strengthening partnerships with local mobile network operators and device manufacturers. In India, where the smartphone market is expanding rapidly, the offering of localized content and stickers featuring local celebrities has allowed to LINE to achieve an impressive 10 million users only three months after officially entering the market. A total user number of 20 million in the country is anticipated before the end of 2013.
The company’s global efforts have rapidly accelerated the pace of growth in user numbers, with 19 months taken to achieve the first 100 million users, 6 months for the next 100 million, and only 4 months between 200 million and 300 million users.
Mr. Akira Morikawa, CEO of LINE Corporation, commented:
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.
We will continue to explore all possibilities of communication in order to develop even more new features and constantly enhance our service quality. We aim to achieve 500 million users within 2014, and to develop LINE into the world’s top communication service.
LINE will work towards further enlarging its user base as a global communication service, and enriching the lives of its many users.
[1] All user numbers are for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Nokia Asha and feature phones combined.