The South Korean-Japanese proprietary instant messaging app LINE has surpassed 400 million users, with new daily users reaching a record-breaking pace of 1.7 million.
LINE user bases grow rapidly in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia as seen in the chart above. It is present in 230 countries and claims to have coveted No. 1 spot in the “free apps” category of app stores in 60 countries (http://line.naver.jp/en/).
Since its launch in 2011, LINE has grown into a global communications app that lets users communicate through voice and video calls, as well as stickers and text messages.
In the Philippines, to attract more users, it added a new feature called LINE Call, a function that allows users to call landlines and cellular phones for affordable prices. By boosting its multi-functionality with features like this, LINE hopes to increase its value for Filipino users.
“One of our goals for 2014 was to reach over 500 million users and today we’ve been able reach the milestone of 400 million,” says Akira Morikawa, CEO of LINE Corporation. “I’d like to thank all our users and supporters for their help so far.”
Alongside the rising number of users, the amount of communication made through LINE has also skyrocketed. Since the start of 2014, records have been set for the daily usage of chat messages (10 billion/day), sticker messages (1.8 billion/day), and phone calls (over 12 million/day).
Morikawa remarks, “Along with the rapid proliferation of smartphones, the level of competition in the global communications app market has become fiercer than ever, and is only intensifying every day. We believe that this shows that messaging services have become the crux of our mobile society, and demonstrates their incredible worth.”
