In the immediate future, Line is aiming to strengthen its service by introducing PC and Mac-based clients, and also accommodating tablet devices “in the near future” to increase its user numbers.

Plans for PC, Mac, tablets and 100 million downloads However, the application itself has caused controversy in Japan where it, among other Android apps, has been cited as a factor that has brought down NTT DoCoMo’s network and seen other operators struggle with the load on their services.ĭoCoMo has asked Google to modify the settings it asks of Android apps to help fix the issue but the app, and other free voice calling services, provides a more difficult challenge for operators, as it is effectively taking voice calls away from their already declining revenue streams. Japanese tech blog Asiajin calls Line one of the most successful international services to have emerged from the country, and the fact that it has 12 million downloads outside of Japan (double its domestic base) shows that it has found an audience worldwide that is likely to see it continue to grow. The app also allows group chats between users. The application, which is international, allows users to make voice calls, send instant messages and share stickers, a gimmick that we suspect appeals more to Japanese phone owners than international users. The team behind Line are particularly proud of the speed with which the service has passed 20 million, and they point out that the service has reached the landmark faster than Facebook (28 months) and Twitter (26 months), as well as popular Japanese social services Mixi (73 months), GREE (77 months) and DeNA‘s Mobage (54 months). Line is one of a number of mobile calling apps which include Korea’s Kakao Talk - which passed 10 million downloads in January and is seeing 1 billion text messages sent each day - Facebook-based Seen, Skype and even non-voice messaging platforms like WhatsApp and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). The company provides the following chart to show its continued growth since Line was first launched:

The latest statistics come after the company began a worldwide marketing campaign to promote the application, starting in Taiwan, where a TV ad campaign soon saw it top the local app download charts, NHN says.

Japanese online skype