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You and I use Kakao Talk almost everyday right? And with over 130 million users... it's probably
the main way of communicating in Korea. But you look beyond to other neighboring countries
like Japan, there's LINE. That's right.
And it's looking to go public either Japan or the U.S.... or both... to go further global
with more liquidity. And if you've ever wondered about the key
point to its success... it's those stickers... emoticons... and localizing them... for different
markets. Yoo Li-an tells us more. From cups and credit
cards,... to coffee cans and even subway trains. These characters are just some of the emoticons
available on Line,.. one of the world's top messaging application companies.
The Korean firm has amassed over 400 million users, mostly in Asia.
And Line believes these emoticons, so-called stickers, that have been localized to different
cultures,.... have been key to their success.
"In the Islamic cultural area, there's Ramadan, so we made characters that look hungry. For
countries like Brazil and Turkey, we made our characters look more muscular because
our cutesy characters aren't popular there."
The exploding popularity of these stickers has given birth to a wide range of spin-off
merchandise and offline stores are popping up around Asia, with Seoul being no exception.
"This is Cony the Rabbit,… one of the mascots for Line. The popularity of characters like
this have made this store a major tourist destination. Its sales per day? Up to fifteen-thousand
U.S. dollars."
And now, Line is aiming to take a leap further into the U.S. and European markets.
Line is preparing to list its shares in Tokyo and is also considering New York,... as it
tries to get the financial backing it needs to take on its rival Tencent's Wechat or Facebook's
Whatsapp. And their prospects are looking pretty good.
"Line has caught up to Twitter by 90-percent in terms of sales and about 70-percent in
terms of users. At this rate, Line may be valued at 28 billion U.S. dollars by early
next year and exceed Twitter's market value."
But for all the hype, some still warn that Line has yet to prove its successful formula
outside of Asia.
"There's an obvious bubble, you could even call it the Line bubble. Either its stock
could stabilize on the back of strong growth, or it could burst and its stock would plunge."
Analysts say the next few years will be decisive in the global messaging market, as users tend
to stick to the most widely used app. Line says it will focus on expanding its user
base from continent to continent,... hoping its culture-centric characters will win the
hearts of new users. Yoo Li-an, Arirang News.