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Telegram appears to be the early winner of WhatsApp users fleeing following its proposed sale to Facebook and four-hour outage this weekend, but it seems there are also beneficiaries in Asia too.
Line, a chat app from Japan that claims 360 million registered global users, says it netted two million new users and saw “record-breaking” growth outside of Asia within the 24 hours that followed WhatsApp’s downtime.
Though not as impressive as Telegram, which bagged 5 million downloads in one day and has topped app stores in 48 countries, the details revealed by Line are interesting for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, Telegram models itself on WhatsApp. The user experience, the features and more follow the same pattern, only with a stronger focus on security — as its Twitter account bio testifies.
Those similarities make Telegram an obvious WhatsApp replacement, but Line is less similar and goes well beyond a basic messenger.
WhatsApp just announced plans to add voice calls, but Line has long offered voice/video chat, Vine-like short video capture, stickers and more. Aside from those chat features, it also provides a games platform, an opt-in to get messages from brands, and it is dabbling in e-commerce.
Secondly, it appears to be making ground in new geographies. Line is strongest in Asia — it is dominant in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand — but it says that ”new daily register users spiked at a rate of five times more than usual in North America, South America and Europe.”
Without raw figures its difficult to know whether this bump was anything more than growth from a small user base. That said, any increase in the US market is notable since it remains unclear whether Line’s more complicated, ‘Asiafied’ user experience will appeal to smartphone owners there.
We know from talking to the executive in charge of its international expansion plans that Line is focusing its efforts on Europe and Latin America right now — while it is still growing in Asia — so any progress it can make in the US at this point will be a bonus.
A statement from Line focused on the service’s reliability, which was recently illustrated in Korea when Line downloads jumped after dominant Korean app Kakao Talk suffered an extended outage.
LINE downloads in South Korea spike during KakaoTalk outage http://t.co/4GfycbJ89R [via @teroterotero @whatthebit] pic.twitter.com/JIrGxlM1S6
— Jon Russell (@jonrussell) December 9, 2013
A Bloomberg report published today suggests Japanese operator Softbank is interested in investing in Line at an estimated $14.9 billion valuation, while the company has long been tipped to go public. Either option could provide funding to further the company’s international expansion plans.
Spoiler alert, if you like parody Twitter accounts without knowing the background behind them, turn away now.
Well, you read the headline anyway… The New York Times has unmasked the genius behind @GSElevator, a popular account that tweets gossip, opinions and anecdotes that are purportedly overheard in an elevator at Goldman Sachs to 625,000 followers.
#1: With your Visa card, you can win Super Bowl tickets for life. #2: With my Amex, I can buy Super Bowl tickets for life.
— GS Elevator Gossip (@GSElevator) January 31, 2014
The person landed a book deal thanks to his Twitter account, but he’s not a Goldman Sachs employee:
The author is a 34-year-old former bond executive who lives in Texas. His name is John Lefevre.
He had tried to remain anonymous, scrubbing the Internet of mentions of his name and pictures of himself on all but a handful of sites. Some people had already speculated that @GSElevator was not hanging around the halls of Goldman.
Upon being contacted late last week after several weeks of reporting uncovered his identity, he confirmed his alter ego. “Frankly, I’m surprised it has taken this long,” he said by phone. “I knew this day would come.”
➤ @GSElevator Tattletale Exposed (He Was Not in the Goldman Elevator) [New York Times]
Thumbnail image via hxdbzxy / Shutterstock
Korean smartphone manufacturer LG has been announcing a series of new smartphones aimed at different target audiences, as it seeks to spread its net as far and wide as it can to rake up overall sales of its devices.
Today, it took the wraps off the F70 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a 4.5-inch mid-tier smartphone targeted squarely at new LTE customers. This comes as LG says it is intent on expanding its footprint in 4G markets.
The F70 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and features a removable 2,440mAh battery that LG claims “has the largest capacity in its class” so users can tap on LTE without having to recharge mid-day. It runs on Android 4.4 KitKat, comes with 1GB RAM and has a 5-megapixel rear camera.
LG’s latest device also features its Easy Home launcher, which simplifies the home screen while increasing the size of icons and fonts — and it also comes equipped with LG’s newest UX feature, Knock Code, which allows users to power on and unlock their smartphone by tapping a personalized pattern on the screen.
Images via LG