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Understanding Line, the chat app behind 2016’s largest tech IPO

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Re: Understanding Line, the chat app behind 2016’s largest tech IPO

#11

Post by egypturnash »

kirkdouglas wrote: post #9

I hope that WhatsApp will resist adding all these stickers and games and find it's way to monetize (bring back paid subscription?).

Stickers are great. Stickers let you quickly communicate a reply with two or three taps. They can also lighten things up; I giggle every time my boyfriend uses the "that's great but I am Trying To Work now" sticker I drew for him. What could read as curt and grumpy in text is instead expressed faster by a drawing that is a little bit inherently goofy.

YMMV obviously, maybe you're just too serious to ever want to use a cartoon zebra to express yourself.

Re: Understanding Line, the chat app behind 2016’s largest tech IPO

#12

Post by sho_hn »

hkmurakami wrote: post #5
tuna-piano wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But is the type of gaming that would be associated with line a fad in totality? And are stickers just a fad as well? Will people be buying them 10 years from now?

I actually think stickers fill a real need of 1) "I am not exactly sure how I can respond best to my friend's message in words, but I can be vague and generally pleasant by using this cute/funny with this sticker" 2) I am too lazy / don't care enough to craft a thoughtful and appropriate message.

Using stickers well is also a form of eloquence, and of demonstrating empathy. They're often commentary for just-received messages, i.e. it's a way to say "I got what you just tried to say" by picking the right sticker (individual well-known sticker types - such as poses or facial expressions found in many different packs across different characters - become tropes/memes). And people also tend to appropriate certain characters, so it becomes a way to maintain an identity within group.

Re: Understanding Line, the chat app behind 2016’s largest tech IPO

#13

Post by egypturnash »

hkmurakami wrote: post #2

Overall solid article but strangely light on details. >Gaming was 40 percent of Line’s revenue in 2015, its largest single line item for income. >Gaming can be high-grossing but it is also subject to fads and trends. Line’s games have performed well but, as we have seen in the past, just one title underperforming can drag the company’s revenue down. >“Historically, we have depended on a small number of games for a ma…

Given that there's a photo of a shelf full of merch of Line's characters in the middle of the article, I wonder how much of their revenue is just that. And how much of their game revenue is coming from games starring their characters.

Come up with simple, cute characters, and stick them on everything possible. Hey, it worked for Sanrio...

Re: Understanding Line, the chat app behind 2016’s largest tech IPO

#14

Post by untog »

simbalion wrote: post #4

This stuff is a fad, like the housing bubble and the .com boom. People who don't really understand technology or the internet or how people use both think they smell gold and they take us on these ridiculous roller coaster rides about "The next big killer app" or whatever. Then that app is dead in 5 years. I guess if all one is interested in is making money, then good for them, kudos. But in the grander sense.. "the…

Easy to say about any new app. Do you include Facebook and Google in this? They were most certainly a "killer app/site" at launch, but managed to stick around.

Re: Understanding Line, the chat app behind 2016’s largest tech IPO

#15

Post by reustle »

Larrikin wrote: post #6
simbalion wrote: post #4

This stuff is a fad, like the housing bubble and the .com boom. People who don't really understand technology or the internet or how people use both think they smell gold and they take us on these ridiculous roller coaster rides about "The next big killer app" or whatever. Then that app is dead in 5 years. I guess if all one is interested in is making money, then good for them, kudos. But in the grander sense.. "the…

Line is a fad like Facebook is a fad then. Pretty much every single person in Japan with a smartphone has the app and it is the standard way to communicate. I didn't need a phone plan when I lived there because I ended up making maybe 5 actual phone calls over the course of 3 years because LINE totally served my needs. The only people I met with a Facebook were people who liked traveling and were actively looking for…

This is also the case in countries down south like Thailand. Everyone who is anyone is on LINE, and businesses display their LINE ID before anything else.

Re: Understanding Line, the chat app behind 2016’s largest tech IPO

#19

Post by seanp2k2 »

Interesting times we live in. A "free" chat app is going to be valued at >$1bn and they make money selling digital stickers and perks for their Tetris clone, while publishing companies can't stay afloat with ads. Maybe publishers should sell stickers.

Edit: 9 billion.

Re: Understanding Line, the chat app behind 2016’s largest tech IPO

#20

Post by sho_hn »

gaius wrote: post #16

How does a chat app need 2500 employees? Then again the same question applies to Twitter.

They also have an Uber-like taxi service and others. I don't know how Line Taxi is doing, but in Korea, the equivalent KakaoTaxi is quickly becoming the default way to get a taxi.
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