LINE reaches 8 million users in Japan, and the launch of TV advertisements in Taiwan marks the start of a full-scale overseas marketing strategy.
TOKYO, March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- NHN Japan Corporation (CEO: Akira Morikawa, headquartered in Shinagawa ward, Tokyo, hereinafter referred to as NHN Japan) would like to formally announce that its free calling and free messaging app "LINE" has achieved in total (for both iPhone / Android) 20 million downloads in approximately 8 months since its launch.
LINE is a smartphone app which allows users to enjoy free calls and messages to one another, both nationally and internationally, regardless of which mobile network provider they are using. Since its launch in June 2011, it has proven most popular with users both in Japan as well as those in the Middle Eastern / South-East Asian regions, and in just 7 months after its launch on Jan 27 2012, LINE managed to achieve 15 million downloads worldwide.
Even after this, LINE has continued to show a strong rate of growth at a pace of over 1 million downloads per week, and as of March 5, achieved the 8 million downloads mark for users in Japan. From this year, NHN Japan has been putting strength into its overseas marketing starting with Taiwan, by launching a television commercial on February 17. Soon after its broadcast, LINE achieved the number 1 spot on the Taiwan Android Market in the "Top Free in Apps" section, and the number of users can be seen to be increasing at an astonishing rate.
As a result, in just 1 month after reaching the 15 million downloads mark, the number of users has increased by 5 million, bringing the total to more than 20 million downloads in the space of approximately 8 months since its launch.
Furthermore, when comparing the time it took for other SNS to reach the 20 million downloads mark, LINE's overwhelmingly fast rate of growth can be seen clearly. For example, overseas apps such as Facebook took over 28 months (1152 days) (Note 1), Twitter 26 months (1035 days) (Note 1), while other apps in Japan such as mixi took 73 months (Note 2), GREE 77 months (Note 3), and mobage which took 54 months (Note 4) respectively. (Based on LINE's download figures only.)
Also, as a new feature, NHN Japan will release PC versions (compatible with Windows/Mac) as well as smart-tablet browser versions of the app worldwide, simultaneously, within the near future. The aim of this is to create more possibilities and functions in terms of usage, and in turn to continue to increase the number of users.
As one of the world's leading global messaging services, LINE aims to achieve the 100 million users mark during 2012, and as so, will continue to improve the user-friendliness of its services.
Note:
1: How long it took Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to reach 20 million users
http://www.famousbloggers.net/graph-facebook-twitter-google-20-million-users.html
2: Press Release by mixi, Inc. (available in Japanese only)
http://mixi.co.jp/press/2010/0414/2681/
3: Press Release by GREE, Inc. (available in Japanese only)
http://www.gree.co.jp/news/press/2010/0927.html
4: Press Release by DeNA Co., Ltd. (available in Japanese only)
http://dena.jp/press/2010/08/no1edena.php
For further inquiries please contact:
NHN Japan Corporation
Web Services Division, PR Room (Hayashi)
TEL: +81-70-5077-6073 (Japanese only)
Email: Webservice-PR@nhn.com
