Mobile messaging app Line recently announced they passed the 200 million registered user mark roughly two years after its debut. The app has enjoyed tremendous growth this year alone as it was just back in January when it passed the 100 million user mark.
Keep in mind, however, that this is total global registered users, not monthly active users, and includes users across all platforms including Android, Asha, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Phone and feature phones. Other metrics like the number of sent / received messages would go a long way to determining true usage but it's been said that the proportion of registered users to active users could be as high as 80 percent.
Line differentiates itself from other messaging apps by supplying digital sticker packs (character-based emoticons) that can be purchased and used during chat. Earlier this year, the company posted Q1 earnings of $58.9 million, nearly a third of which came from sticker sales. Some 80 percent of revenue was generated in Japan, the app's native country. It was only recently that Line expanded to global markets including the US and Europe.
The popular messaging app is competing with a bevy of similar apps including WhatsApp which just passed the 250 million actively monthly user mark and moved to a subscription model. WeChat, another popular messaging app that got its start in China, now has a registered user base of roughly 300 million. Of those 300 million, 190 million are considered to be monthly active users.