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TECHNOLOGY A23
Thursday 7 April 2016
Mobile chat apps Line, Kakao flourishing among young Asians
YOUKYUNG LEE NUMBERS: 215 million active
AP Business Writers users globally, 68 million in
YURI KAGEYAMA Japan. Recorded 120.7 bil-
AP Business Writers lion yen ($1.1 billion) in sales
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — last year.
Forget Facebook and Twit- HITS: Line has leveraged
ter. businesses such as mer-
Two of Asia’s biggest social chandising of dolls and
media players, Kakao Talk other goods featuring mas-
and Line, are growing by cot-like characters such
making mobile messaging as Brown the bear. It also
apps an integral part of the rakes in revenue from the
lives of young Asians who sale of emoticon stickers,
prefer to communicate called “stamps” in Japan,
more privately instead of to use with Line messages.
shouting out in virtual are- Many stamps are free or
nas and risking troubles with cost very little, and Line has
trolls — or disclosing aspects opened stamp designing
of their lives to their parents to the public, enhancing
they’d rather not share. their appeal. Cab drivers,
Kakao Talk is the top mes- for instance, use special
senger app in South Korea, stamps with their indus-
with more users than Face- try jargon handy for quick
book or Twitter. People use In the April 4, 2016, photo, Kim Do-hee, an employee of Kakao Friends Shop, uses a smartphone communication with other
it to hail cabs and transfer beside its goods in Seoul, South Korea. drivers in their team. Some
money, advancing toward 2.4 billion such stickers are
a cashless society. Even Associated Press sent each day, with sales
South Korean government reaching 25.3 billion yen
officials prefer Kakao chat Here’s a look at Kakao Talk like service which was at company has largely fo- ($224 million) last year. Free
rooms for communicat- and Line, Asia’s top mes- one point more popular cused on developing new voice calls among Line us-
ing with colleagues as op- senger app companies. than Facebook among services for its huge Korean ers, including international
posed to email. ___ South Koreans. But its user customer base. calls, are another reason
In Japan, where Line users KAKAO TALK: Headquar- growth has been slowing. ANALYST TAKE: “They have for its popularity.
outnumber those on Face- tered on the southern is- The latest big hit is Kakao to get a momentum in the MAKING MONEY: Line has
book or Twitter, people buy land of Jeju, South Korea. Taxi, an Uber-like taxi hail- mobile advertisement mar- signed up major compa-
cute digital stickers to link to The app was released in ing service. ket, but no messenger com- nies for advertising such
messages and use the app 2010. MAKING MONEY: The 2012 panies have established as Toyota and online re-
to search for music and OWNED BY: Kakao, South launch of Kakao Game themselves as strong an tailer Rakuten. It plans to
Korea’s No. 2 Internet proved its first big jackpot. advertisement platform as
Many mobile games ad-
opted a business model
where users would have
to either invite Kakao Talk
friends or pay to play more
rounds or buy virtual items.
This fueled huge growth in
the mobile game market in
South Korea, helping some
game developers go pub-
lic and amass cash. It also
allowed advertisers like
Uniqlo and mom-and-pop
stores to interact with users
one-on-one.
CHALLENGES: Game rev-
In this Thursday, March 24, 2016 photo, Line Corp. President and enue has declined since This Feb. 19, 2014, file photo shows the Facebook app icon on
CEO Takeshi Idezawa speaks during a press conference of Line peaking in 2014 as game an iPhone in New York.
Conference Tokyo 2016 in Urayasu, near Tokyo. developers began to dis-
tance themselves to save Associated Press
Associated Press commission fees. Follow-
jobs. search engine, which ing a controversy in 2014 Facebook,” said Justin Lee, expand its clientele, using
In doing so, the apps are counts former Naver CEO over South Korean authori- an analyst at BNP Paribas in its knowledge of users’ in-
serving as test beds for digi- Kim Beom-su as the largest ties’ seizure of Kakao Talk Seoul. Earlier expectations terests in targeting adver-
tal services, demonstrating shareholder. user data, many customers for monetizing messen- tising. Such contracts now
ways the latest trends in- NUMBERS: 48 million active have migrated to Berlin- ger apps may have been cost about 50 million yen
technology and communi- users globally, including 40 based competitor Tele- overly optimistic, he said. ($500,000), but will be of-
cation can be integrated million in South Korea. Sales gram. Since then, South Ko- “Because of the limitations fered to small and medi-
with daily life in the 21st at the owner of Kakao Talk reans have become wary of one-on-one services, its um-size businesses at lower
century. reached 932.2 billion won of what they say on the appeal as an ad platform rates. Line mainly appeals
Above all, they are making ($808.5 million) last year. app, which has not severe- is not as big as Facebook.” to young people, many
money, although some of HITS: Kakao Talk itself and its ly dented its traffic but has ___ of whom don’t have ac-
their products, such as digi- cute emoticon characters. hurt its reputation. LINE: Headquartered in To- cess to credit cards. To get
tal stickers, would be a hard The company was able to EXPANSION: Kakao Talk has kyo. Founded in 2011. around that problem, Line
sell in other markets. Silicon build on the success of Ka- unsuccessfully tried to ex- OWNED BY: South Korea’s has come up with its own
Valley investors and tech kao Talk when it launched pand in Japan and Indo- No. 1 Internet search en- prepaid cards that can be
startups everywhere are Kakao Story, an Instagram- nesia, both countries where gine company Naver Corp. charged at convenience-
watching closely. Line is strong. Instead, the store chains.q
