NHN reports: the number of registered LINE users has exceeded 230 million. In Spain alone, the messenger has 15 million users.
The breakdown by countries with the largest number of LINE messenger users looks like this: 47 million in Japan, 18 million in Thailand, 17 million in Taiwan and 14 million in Indonesia. From European countries, Spain has the record, where 15 million people signed up for the company’s services.
In August 2013 alone, LINE users sent and received approximately 7 billion messages and 1 billion stickers.
The CEO of NHN, Akira Morikawa, suggested that one of the reasons for the growing popularity of the service is that “with the help of LINE, you can spread socially significant information faster and among a wider audience.” He also added that the service is becoming something of an “infrastructure”.
The company shared statistics simultaneously with the announcement of a new service for users from Japan and Taiwan. Soon it will be possible to buy LINE prepaid cards in stores within walking distance of these countries. NHN hopes that bypassing credit cards will make it easier for users to purchase stickers and other virtual gifts (including IAP in games). The company plans to be able to pay for services via Paypal. Note that for the second quarter of 2013, in-game purchases brought 53% of the profit to the service.
Source: pocketgamer.biz