NHN Japan Corporation announced on June 6 that the number of registered users for its free calling and free messaging app 'LINE' (http://line.naver.jp/) has exceeded a total figure of 40 million worldwide, with 18 million in Japan, as of the same day (total for both iPhone/Android combined). The service has been showing rapid growth at a pace of more than 5 million new users per month, and NHN Japan is now stepping up a full-fledged expansion  of LINE as a platform for other additional services.

-Graph to show registered user numbers

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Since the launch of LINE on June 23, 2011, this communication app has been used in over 230 countries worldwide. In just 10 months since the launch of the service, the number of registered users grew to 30 million, and has since been increasing at a phenomenal rate of over 5 million new users per month. On May 12, the user number was recorded at 35 million and this figure has now exceeded 40 million as of June 6, 2012.

With the rapid growth of the user number in mind, NHN Japan has been expanding its services using LINE as its foundation. The New 'Sticker Shop' is one such service, where users can purchase Stickers of popular cartoon characters to use in their messages. Opened on April 26, this first pay-for service offered by LINE has been an instant success, reaching the number 1 spot for Top Sales apps at App Stores in Taiwan and Thailand, and acquiring the number 2 spot in Japan. Furthermore, in all East Asian countries, it has scored very highly across ranking tables, and NHN Japan is  receiving many positive comments regarding the 'Sticker Shop' from users all over the world.

Other expansions of LINE-related services include 'LINE camera' which received 6.5 million downloads during its first month. Together with the release of LINE's official greeting card app, 'LINE Card' (on March 28 for iPhone/Android), 'LINE camera' was released soon after (April 13 for Android, April 26 for iPhone) to expand LINE's usability. 'LINE camera' was an immediate hit, achieving the number 1 position in the Free Apps category at App Stores in 13 countries, as well as acquiring the number 1 spot for Camera Apps in over 19 countries worldwide. In just 1 month since its launch, 'LINE camera' achieved 6.5 million downloads.

Jun Masuda, Executive and CSMO at NHN Japan (Web Services Division), commented: "Up until now, LINE was developed to be a communications tool aimed at providing free calls and free messages. However,  based on today's figure which exceeds 40 million registered users, we see this as a great opportunity to start a full-fledged development of LINE as a platform for other additional services, as we have been planning from the very beginning. With the aim in mind of acquiring 100 million users during 2012, we will keep improving the user-friendliness of our services, as well as offering our services on multiple devices with multilingual support, with the intention of developing LINE as a platform which caters to all users worldwide."

While  promoting LINE as a global communications app and increasing the number of new users, NHN Japan will also continue to push forth the development of LINE as a service platform, as well as increasing its overall revenue.

About NHN Japan Corporation

NHN Japan is the local affiliate of Korea's premier Internet company, NHN Corporation. NHN Japan is headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, with Akira Morikawa as CEO.