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
It would be easy to assume that giants like Apple, Facebook and the carriers will control smartphone messaging. But the reality is that the global messaging market remains fragmented with several independent players like Sequoia-backed WhatsApp and Korea’s Kakao TALK.
Japan, in fact, has a dominant smartphone messaging app of its own — and one with very enviable usage figures. A free calling… → Read More
Big news from the Asian Internet industry today: Korea’s web behemoth NHN has sealed a $68 million deal to acquire major Japanese Internet service provider Livedoor from parent company LDH Corp. (whose stakeholders include Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs). LDH also plans to pay a dividend of $32 million ahead of its sale to NHN.
LDH’s main asset is the eponymous portal service whose 30 million… → Read More
Google keeps gaining search market share in the U.S., but its global dominance is not as great as previously indicated. Last night, comScore released its search market share and query growth numbers for July and Lehman Brothers reported the numbers in a note this morning. Here are the main search market share percentage numbers in the U.S. from comScore: Company—–July search… → Read More
We’ve covered a variety of casual gaming sites before on TechCrunch. It’s a hot vertical, particular since the rise of the Nintendo’s Wii console proved that there was a huge willing market for games that don’t need a 4 hour long instruction session from a gaming geek. South Korean company NHN comes with strong credentials. The company is claimed to be the be “the… → Read More
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