LINE Adapts to Local Trends in Further Service Development

The Japanese internet giant, LINE Corporation, is still serious about the Indonesian market, which is one of its main markets in Southeast Asia after Thailand. LINE representatives in Indonesia revealed that they will continue to provide various relevant services that follow developments in the local market. For example, LINE Bank and Splitbill target the needs of financial service users in Indonesia.

Contacted by DailySocial.id, LINE Indonesia Country Manager Fanny Verona was reluctant to elaborate on the picture of LINE's business and product developments in Indonesia over the past year.

"As of the second quarter of 2023, the number monthly active users "LINE's (MAU) globally is 196 million with four main markets in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia," he said in a written statement to DailySocial.id.

However, he revealed that he was developing a new platform called GOOK! (Gokilnya Discounts for Students) which targets the student market specifically and connects it with various owners brand in Indonesia.

This platform is said to be able to answer the challenges that are often faced brand in serving the needs of the younger generation who will be the main target in the future. Owner brand believes that students are the starting point for understanding the preferences and interests of the younger generation.

GOKS allows student users to get discounts from partners brand who joined. For the verification process, students must register using their campus email or Student Identity Card.

Meanwhile, based on data Business of Apps as of 2021, LINE has a total of 178 million MAUs in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.

LINE services in Indonesia

Indonesia is a market with more than 200 million internet users, who are also active users of a number of digital services, such as instant messaging, social media, digital wallets, to online shopping.

LINE has launched a number of services and features to suit the needs of the Indonesian market. Some of them are:

• • • LINE Messenger; popular instant messaging service in Indonesia.
    • LINE Webtoon; digital comic platform, available in Indonesian in 2015.
    • LINE Today; breaking news curation app, but has closed in July 2022.
    • LINE Splitbill; a popular feature that allows users to calculate and split bills, available since 2019.
    • LINEBank; collaboration between Bank Hana and LINE Corporation, officially present in Indonesia since 2021.

Develop the Web3 ecosystem

After dominating the digital market through instant messaging services, LINE began to navigate its product development into the new internet era. The development of the Web3 ecosystem is being executed by the venture company, LINE NEXT Inc, which has just announced an investment of $140 million through a consortium with Crescendo Equity Partners.

LINE NEXT will be the company's vehicle to popularize Web3 through various new services, such as social applications and games based on the Finschia blockchain. Recently, it also launched the official version of the platform digital commerce DOSI is now available in 180 countries.

The beta version of DOSI was launched in September 2022. It is claimed that it has attracted more than 5,5 million users worldwide and 560 thousand cumulative transactions. Meanwhile, DOSI will be integrated with LINE NFT (marketplace NFT in Japan) which presents more than 20 membership products from a number of startups in various categories, including:

1. SuperPlat (community-based gaming and digital content platform)
2. Quantrack (investment and stock analysis platform)
3. inDJ (platform streaming AI based music)
4. FLDA (community based K-pop fan platform).

"DOSI sets a technology standard that can capture ownership of all valuable digital products. By providing essential value, DOSI plans to connect its services with general users," said Youngsu Ko, CEO of LINE NEXT, in his official statement some time ago.