Next in Line: Japanese messaging app makes a push for India

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line-website-hindi
Line’s website available in Hindi

Yesterday Japan’s Line Corporation rolled out a Hindi version of its website (line.naver.jp/hi) as well as two new television commercials targeting the Indian market. This echoes the company’s previous strategy of winning new users in countries like Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Spain.

Now with 180 million users, 45 million of which are in Japan, India represents an area of great potential for Line. According to figures from IDC, the nation’s smartphone market grew 74% from Q1 2012 to Q1 2013. That market is overwhelmingly dominated by Android, with budget handsets proving popular.

india-smartphone-market

Line’s expansion to date has been fascinating to watch. Back in April we heard the company’s CEO Akira Morikawa explain that their localization strategy does not involve establishing a series of regional offices. They are trying to be a sort of borderless company, in a way. Line will visit a region to do business of course, but the company does not feel a need to be there perpetually.

You can check out Line’s new television commercials for India below. It remains to be seen how effective these will be, but based on the company’s track record and India’s growing love of smartphones, I expect things will go very smoothly.

For more information on the growth of Line, please check out our interactive Line Timeline which chronicles its growth from its launch back in 2011 up until the present day.