One of the most popular messaging solutions in the world is owned by LINE Corporation. We are, of course, talking about LINE a free messaging app available for Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, and Windows 8.
The company in charge has apparently been making money quite well of of the free app, and has posted JPY12.8 billion ($132.3 million) of revenue in Q2 2013, an increase of 348.9 percent since the same time last year as well as a 45.3 percent increase from Q1 2013. 76 percent — JPY 9.77 billion ($101.3 million) — of this revenue came from LINE itself. Most of this growth came from Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Spain and Indonesia.
“LINE has achieved 200 million users in a mere six months after hitting the 100 million user mark this January, and has shown impressive growth both home and abroad,” said LINE Corporation CEO Mr. Akira Morikawa. “We have been experimenting with new business models for the smartphone era, and the improvement in our performance this quarter is a symbol of their success. We will continue to actively invest in new opportunities and conduct new challenges so as to become a common piece of communication infrastructure worldwide, and aim to achieve 300 million users within 2013.”
The main culprit of the revenue growth is in-game purchases (53 percent), followed by sticker purchases (27 percent and sponsored stickers (20 percent). LINE Games passed a cumulative 150 million downloads in June and includes games such as LINE Wind, LINE Play, and LINE Pop.
The company is looking to expand in other parts of the world as it looks to take on its biggest competitors such as WeChat and KakaoTalk. WeChat recently surpassed Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp to become the world’s fifth most popular mobile app, so LINE has much work to do to overcome its rival.
Still, the company is healthy and is growing, so we’ll very likely see its expansion continue rapidly throughout the world. Stay up to date with its continued growth on the official LINE page.