Messaging app Line, which recently announced it has passed 150 million users, has withdrawn a function from its iOS app that allowed users to gift paid-for stickers to each other by paying for them with a virtual currency. The change, spotted earlier by The Next Web, was made at Apple’s request, said the company in a blog post today. → Read More
Line, a free-at-the-point-of-use messaging app made by NHN Japan Corp which recently passed 150 million users, has announced earnings for Q1 2013 — revealing for the first time how much of its revenue comes from game in-app purchases and how much from its other shtick: stickers. Line uses free social messaging and gaming services as its hook to draw in users, and monetises via paid add-ons. → Read More
Line, a free messaging app made by NHN Japan Corporation that’s competing with the likes of WhatsApp and Viber, has pushed past 150 million registered users globally, up from 100 million in January. Line launched back in summer 2011 in Asia, and is especially popular in Japan, but has been pushing outside its home region, expanding into the U.S., Europe and Latin America. → Read More
Following its beta launch at the end of January, just.me, the mobile messaging startup from Keith Teare, co-founder of TechCrunch and partner at incubator Archimedes Labs, has launched its first app, available initially for iPhones and iPod Touch. Just.me had planned on an earlier release of the app but said today it held back so it could launch at DEMO Mobile to garner more attention. → Read More
Line’s animated characters, which helped it become one of Asia’s top messaging apps with more than 120 million users, now have their own cartoon series. The TV show, called “LINE TOWN,” premiered on Tokyo TV Channel 6 last week (h/t Asiajin). “Line Town” features half-hour-long episodes and a prime 6:30PM to 7:30PM slot, and has already been picked up for… → Read More
Facebook is making an announcement this Thursday, and our own Josh Constine reports that at this event we’ll see the company unveil its own slightly tweaked flavor of Android, to power select HTC smartphones. But why would the company do that, and why now? A new report from Reuter provides very good motivation: Facebook sees a potential threat in the growing success of mobile-first messaging… → Read More
Line, the messaging-app-cum-social network that started in Asia but has spread beyond its home turf to amass more than 100 million users globally, has just added French and Brazilian Portuguese versions of its Android and iOS apps as it looks to continue ramping up its global user-base. Line told TechCrunch earlier this month that South America is a priority for it, along with the U.S. → Read More
Line, an app made by South Korea’s Naver Corp which has grown rapidly since its launch in summer 2011, is typically labelled as a messaging app – and compared to the likes of WhatsApp, Viber and Skype. But in reality Line’s feature-set positions it closer to being a social network. In other words, Line is going after disenchanted Facebookers as much as it’s hoping to woo Skype calling… → Read More
As the War of the Asian Mobile Messaging Apps heats up, Indonesia is becoming one of the most important battlegrounds for players like WeChat and Line–and TV ads are a surprising but effective part of their artillery. Though the country currently has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in Southeast Asia, a large and youthful population (27% of its 242.3 million people is 14 or younger)… → Read More
Japanese messaging app Line has just reported that new users in Hong Kong have been doubling each day for the past week since January 29.
The app, which is the dominant messenger of choice in Japan, launched its Chinese version on December 12, and looks like it’s riding a huge wave of momentum in Asia, ranking first on the free app category in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand, to… → Read More
Japan’s top smartphone messaging app, Line, which reaches about a third of that country’s mobile phone users, just announced the release of Line Kids (link via Google Translate), for children aged six and younger. Line Kids is currently available only in Japan, and developer NHN Japan says it does not currently have plans to release it outside of the country. But, as Kim-Mai Cutler noted in a… → Read More
http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcrunchgear%2Eblip%2Etv%2Frss&file=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Frss%2Fflash%2F1067955%3Freferrer%3Dblip%2Etv%26source%3D1&showplayerpath=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Fscripts%2Fflash%2Fshowplayer%2Eswf I just came back from the Softbank flagship store in “Tokyo’s Fifth Avenue”, Omotesandou street. → Read More
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