Line is a South Korean-Japanese proprietary application for instant messaging on smartphones and personal computers. Line users exchange text messages, graphics, video and audio media, make free VoIP calls, and hold free audio or video conferences. Line, launched in Japan in 2011, reached 100 million users within eighteen months and 200 million users only six months later.[1] Line became Japan's largest social network in 2013; on 25 November 2013, it announced that it had 300 million registrants worldwide, of which 50 million users are within Japan.[2]
Line was originally developed as a mobile application for Android and iOS smartphones. The service has since expanded to BlackBerry (August 2012),[3] Nokia Asha (Asia and Oceania, March 2013),[4][5] Windows Phone (July 2013),[6] and Firefox OS (February 2014).[7] The application also exists in versions for laptop and desktop computers using the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS platforms.
Line began in 2011 as the brainchild of engineers at NHN Japan, the Japanese arm of Naver Corporation (formerly NHN) based in South Korea. Today the popular messaging service is operated by LINE Corporation, a spinoff company headquartered in Japan