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Line (software)
Freeware instant communications app / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Line is a freeware app for instant communications, operated and developed by SoftBank Group's LY Corporation. Line users exchange: texts, images, video and audio and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences. In addition, Line is a platform providing services including digital wallet as Line Pay, news stream as Line Today, video on demand as Line TV and digital comic distribution as Line Manga and Line Webtoon.
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![]() Screenshot featuring the "Line Friends" stickers | |||||||||||
Developer(s) |
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Initial release | June 23, 2011 (2011-06-23) | ||||||||||
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Repository | github | ||||||||||
Operating system | |||||||||||
Platform | Smartphone, PC, iPad, Smartwatch | ||||||||||
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Available in | 17 languages[4] | ||||||||||
List of languages English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Arabic, Turkish | |||||||||||
Type | Instant messaging, Social networking service | ||||||||||
License | Proprietary software | ||||||||||
Website | line |
Line was launched in Japan in June 2011 by NHN Japan, a subsidiary of Naver.[11] Because it was tailored to Japanese consumers' tastes and offered free smartphone calls as well as texting, with the help of a massive marketing campaign it quickly outpaced its existing rival KakaoTalk for the Japanese market.[11] It reached 100 million users within 18 months and 200 million users six months later.[12] Line became Japan's largest social network in 2013, with more than 300 million users.[13] By February 2015 it had 600 million users.[14]
In March 2021, SoftBank Group affiliate and Yahoo! Japan operator Z Holdings completed a merger with Line Corporation. Under the new structure, A Holdings, a subsidiary of SoftBank Corporation and Naver Corporation, will own 65.3% of Z Holdings, which will operate Line and Yahoo! Japan.[15] Line is the most popular messaging application in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand.[16][17]