Just Another Dumpsite…
Asia
LINE APP HITS 100 MILLION USERS TODAY!
LINE REACHES 100 MILLION USERS WORLDWIDE!
18th January 2013, Singapore – The world’s leading mobile messenger app with social networking service, LINE, celebrates a historic milestone at the start of 2013!
The popular free instant messaging smartphone app has achieved the 100 million mark of users globally as of January 18th, less than two years from its launch in June 2011.
On this milestone, Akira Morikawa, CEO of NHN Japan shares, “We at NHN Japan make sure that we are constantly steps ahead in terms of innovation to meet the needs and ever changing wants of our users. This achievement is a direct result of the efforts we have put in to making the LINE app appealing and relevant to our users. But we will not stop at the 100 million mark. We will continue to strengthen and improve our services to become the world’s number one mobile communication service.”
LINE initially started as a simple smartphone messenger service offering free messaging and calling functions with adorable communication tools such as Emoji, Stickers and Emoticon features. Following the success of LINE, more interactive and entertaining apps were rolled out, such as LINE Camera, LINE Tools as well as mobile app games like LINE Pop and LINE Bubble.
The regular releases of new features have made it easier for LINE to position itself as one of the market leaders in the mobile messaging and app market. In particular, the LINE Camera hit 20 million downloads within 10 months of its release and currently ranks as the top app in the camera category across 27 countries worldwide. LINE Games is also keeping up with these positive statistics starting with ‘LINE POP’, a simple puzzle game linked with the LINE app, which hit 10 million downloads in less than two weeks of its release.
To date, LINE is recording an average of 3 million new subscribers per week with active users constituting of up to 86% of its total registered users. Users of the LINE community are rapidly increasing making LINE the #1 free app in 41 countries including Singapore.
“We share the excitement over these significant achievements of LINE and we at NHN Singapore are very proud to be part of this success,” says Mr. Eric Lee, Managing Director of NHN Singapore. “We are positive that the LINE community will continue to grow especially in South East Asia as we continue to refine and enhance the LINE app and all of its features to engage our existing members and capture more new users across the region,” adds Mr. Eric Lee.
As they move towards becoming a ‘Smartphone Life Platform’, LINE further strengthened its communication functions and social networking elements with the launch of their ‘Home’ and ‘Timeline’ services in August 2012. Users can now post updates and share their life stories on their own space. In addition, they have released LINE Tools that include tools essential for daily use and even LINE Antivirus to protect users from online security threats. These features mark LINE’s evolution to more than just sending and receiving messages.
With the aim of becoming the world’s leading mobile communication service in all over the world, NHN Japan’s CEO Akira Morikawa concludes, “We would like to celebrate this milestone with our users who made all this possible. That is why we at LINE are making our special stickers available to everyone for a certain period. We promise to continuously improve our products and services to make them even more enjoyable and useful to our users.”
For more information about LINE, please visit the official website at http://line.naver.jp/en/. ###
Useful Links: LINE Partner
http://line.naver.jp/partner/pc/index/en
LINE Facebook Page
LINE Official Blog
About LINE
LINE is a smartphone app which allows users to enjoy free calls and messages to one another, both nationally and internationally, regardless of which mobile network provider they are using. Launched in June 2011 by NHN Corporate, LINE has more than 100 million users worldwide. It has also been ranked no. 1 in 41 countries in the free app category including Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Macau, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Israel, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Latvia. LINE carries various unique features such as ‘instant translation service’, ‘Official Accounts’ that enables users to interact with famous public figures, ‘Timeline and Home’ to share recent updates with friends, ‘Shake it’, a fun way of exchanging ids and many ‘Emoji/Stickers/Emoticons.’
For more information visit: http://line.naver.jp/en/.
About NHN Corporation
NHN Corporation (www.nhncorp.com) is the No.1 internet firm in South Korea, with main business focuses on the search engine NAVER, and the game service Hangame, which has the largest user pool among Korean game portals. With its great success in PC domain, now the company is seeking to expand into mobile business. Launched in June 2011, the mobile messenger service ‘LINE’ attracted more than 100 million users globally with a strong presence especially in Japan and Southeast Asia. NHN has also launched over 15 smartphone games in Korea, and expects to become a top global smartphone game publisher with various upcoming titles.
For more information visit http://www.nhncorp.com/nhnen/index.nhn
About NHN Singapore Pte. Ltd.
NHN SINGAPORE is a wholly-‐owned subsidiary of NHN Corporation and serves as focus point for providing a valuable platform for games developers in leading overseas expansion of online games services to Singapore and other South-‐East Asia countries. NHN Singapore is preparing to launch a new online game community portal, offering games in wide range of genres, including fun and interesting casual mobile games, multiplayer web-‐based games to arcade-‐style, console-‐quality online role-‐playing games. The service will offer gamers the best in interactive online game entertainment, combining innovative social platform functionality with popular hit game titles.
For more information visit http://www.nhncorp.sg.
Copyright:
© 2013 NHN Corporation. All rights reserved. NHN, LINE logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NHN Corporation in Korea and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.
Our First Holiday: Phuket, Thailand.
There are a couple of firsts for me today. 🙂 It has been a year since we had our first couple holiday. Our destination? Phuket Thailand.
Not the best beach to hangout in Phuket, Thailand, but Patong Beach is pretty decent though a bit crowded.
G and I are both beach bums. Growing up, you would probably catch me and my family at the beach during weekends (Sundays we go to church) as my hometown is thankfully blessed with good beaches. When I went away for university, my beach visits were lessened as there were no nice beaches in Manila that I can easily go to, so whenever I’m back to Davao vacationing, I never ever pass up the opportunity to go to the beach. As for G, I’m not sure about his childhood + beaches but knowing him, he’d also choose a beach holiday over something else.
I bought the (sale) ticket to Phuket even before G and I started going out. When I told him about my planned trip, he asked if he could come and I am not stupid enough to say No to G’s company! 😀
We stayed at Burusari Hotel which was a nice surprise for us. Considering that I got the place cheap as it was on sale, it was a really, really chic and posh hotel nonetheless. Even G said it’s the ‘nicest hotel that he stayed in’ on a holiday. Our room had a balcony, with a four post bed, overlooking their indoor pool which actually goes around the hotel. If you’re lucky and got the first floor rooms, your balcony will lead straight IN the pool.
Going around Phuket is easy. If you have an international driver’s license, you can easily rent a scooter for 300 Baht per day or even less. Even if you don’t have a license and can drive, you can easily get one, just be careful as Thai police randomly flags tourists on motorbikes and asks for their license. If you get caught driving without a license, then, erm, sorry! 🙂 You can hire a Tuk Tuk (like a multicab) to go around the island and the different provinces. There’s also the bus but only at designated areas in Phuket Town and Patong. And if you want your own transpo to take you around, hire a taxi. We got one (1500 Baht for a day) to take us around Phuket Town, Karon Viewpoint, Kata Beach, and the Big Buddha.
A glimpse of the (in)famous Bangla Road, Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand.
We pretty much stayed in the Patong area as there are so many things happening there. Don’t miss the Bangla Road. There’s not much to see at daytime but it gets really crowded at night as this is where the nightlife is-their red light district. There’s your usual lady boy sightings, a-go-go shows (you know, where ladies shoot off darts from their private parts, we went in to one by the way), lots of dancing ladies on table tops which you can easily see from the street, drunk teenagers, blasting music from each and every shop, and even more drunk backpackers…
The view from the Karon Viewpoint.
And of course, you’d go to Phuket for the beach. The Patong beach isn’t that good. So if you want to justify your ‘getting darker’ or even skin cancer by frolicking in the sand under the sun, try going to the better beaches in Phuket Island: Kata is decent enough; this is the nearest beach to south of Patong area. Rawaii at the southernmost part of the island is a perfect choice if you want peace and quiet and a bit of privacy.
This sketch, made by G, was inspired by a certain lady boy who insisted on having a photo with us for only 50 Baht. Location: Along Bangla Road
An insistent and scary lady boy demanding us to take a photo with him, of course, at a fee (tip) of 20 Baht (a bit low for their standard). Location: Pre-show photo op at Simon Cabaret Show
There are some other things that you shouldn’t miss when in Puhket like: the Simon Cabaret Show which is a musical performance by the famous lady boys of Phuket (Did this), Wat Chalong Temples (these temples are fairly new so the ‘cultural’ feel of it is a bit amiss; another check), Big Buddha (check), Phuket FantaSea Show (X), and their fantastic fare which you can easily get anywhere.
These are just a couple of beautiful temples that you can visit in Wat Chalong.
Don’t miss out on Thai Food: Green and Red Curry Dishes! And don’t be afraid of buying from the street fare, it’s quite safe. I mean, we haven’t died yet.
We actually missed visiting to the neighboring islands of Krabi or Phi Phi. Well, that’s perfectly fine because we’re going to Koh Phi Phi for honeymoon, our first holiday together as husband and wife! The Beach! 🙂
Oh, another first for me today: Our First Monthsary as a married couple! Happy Monthsary, G! ❤
Side Story: Being born Filipino, I am limited to visit SEA as I don’t need a visa to enter SEA countries. So that’s limiting G as well as he’s married to a Filipina. 😀 We were had three countries to places to choose from: Phi Phi, Thailand, Cambodia or Laos. And yes, the beach bums in us won! 🙂
Side Comment: You might want to read about our Pulau Tioman holiday – it’s definitely worth going there. Again!
Just Another Dumpsite... 