Story by
Jon Russell
Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on T Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on Twitter, Angel List, LinkedIn.
Line, the mobile messaging company from Japan, just announced it is making over $10 million (1 billion yen) per month selling stickers, the rich emoticon-like content. And it says the figure is rising each month.
Line’s free messaging service reached 200 million users in June, and is currently at 230 million. More than a messenger, the company defines an industry-wide shift from messaging apps into social platforms.
Its family of 52 apps — which includes games, tools, communication services and photo apps for iOS and Android — have been downloaded more than 290 million times — Line Camera alone has clocked 48 million downloads worldwide.
The company also makes money from other in-app purchases (particularly for games) and by charging for corporate messaging accounts. This month it announced record revenue of $132 million in revenue for Q2 2013 — a very different approach to WhatsApp‘s $0.99 per user per year business.
➤ With 230M registered users, LINE reveals more about its future plans [Startup-Dating] | Line annual conference livestream
Further reading: Stickers: From Japanese craze to global mobile messaging phenomenon
Headline image via TNW
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