Line Corporation, the company behind Asia’s popular chat app Line, revealed that it plans to offer three new services for its users: video calls, shopping, and music.
According to chief strategy and marketing officer, Jun Masuda, branching out into these spaces is all part of the company’s focus on what it calls the 3C’s: communication, content, and commerce.
Details are scarce at this point, but Masuda stated that the music functionality will allow users to listen to their favorite songs together, and that it intends to cooperate with record labels (presumably to provide content). Meanwhile, Masuda added that he hopes to create “a new shopping experience with Line,” which recalls WeChat’s pending foray into e-commerce (via its domestic version Weixin).
Masuda claimed that all three projects are in the final stages of development and will be ready for launch in Fall 2013. While the scale and speed of the rollout hasn’t been specified, Masuda repeatedly emphasized Line’s global ambitions, indicating that the features won’t be restricted to Japan or Asia.
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Correction: This article erroneously stated that Jun Masada was CEO of Line. That title belongs to Akira Morikawa. We regret the error and have corrected it.
➤ With 230 million registered users, LINE reveals more about its future plans [Startup Dating]
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