Line, the mobile messaging company from Japan, is borrowing a strategy from Facebook after it launched a lightweight version of its service for Android devices in emerging markets. The service counts 205 million monthly active users, but over half of those are located in just three countries: Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. With this new app, Line is hoping that a smaller and less bloated version will help it gain traction with users in emerging markets who often have cheaper devices and more limited internet connections. Facebook is the master of this approach: its latest emerging market app, Facebook Lite, launched in June following a quiet beta rollout in January.

Top chat app Line has just launched its own taxi service in Japan, rivaling those from Uber and Hailo.

Line, the Japanese messaging company, has continued with its policy of launching new apps and services after it released an Android launcher app.

Japanese mobile messaging app Line has turned to keyboard apps as it looks to grow its service in the U.S. and other parts of the world outside of Asia.

Line, the mobile messaging company from Japan, is borrowing a strategy from Facebook after it launched a lightweight version of its service for Android devices in emerging markets. The service counts 205 million monthly active users, but over half of those are located in just three countries: Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. With this new app, Line is hoping that a smaller and less bloated version will help it gain traction with users in emerging markets who often have cheaper devices and more limited internet connections. Facebook is the master of this approach: its latest emerging market app, Facebook Lite, launched in June following a quiet beta rollout in January.

Line, the mobile messaging company from Japan, is borrowing a strategy from Facebook after it launched a lightweight version of its service for Android devices in emerging markets. The service counts 205 million monthly active users, but over half of those are located in just three countries: Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. With this new app, Line is hoping that a smaller and less bloated version will help it gain traction with users in emerging markets who often have cheaper devices and more limited internet connections. Facebook is the master of this approach: its latest emerging market app, Facebook Lite, launched in June following a quiet beta rollout in January.

Top chat app Line has just launched its own taxi service in Japan, rivaling those from Uber and Hailo.

Top chat app Line has just launched its own taxi service in Japan, rivaling those from Uber and Hailo.

Line, the Japanese messaging company, has continued with its policy of launching new apps and services after it released an Android launcher app.

Japanese mobile messaging app Line has turned to keyboard apps as it looks to grow its service in the U.S. and other parts of the world outside of Asia.