Japanese messaging app LINE is seeking to develop new features and establish a partnership with a major bank to seize a larger user base in Indonesia.
LINE’s new Indonesia country director Ongki Kurniawan said on Thursday that it would try to develop new features, such as live video streaming, which has already been tested on several levels. One notable example of that is the recent broadcasting of a concert by Indonesian pop band Kahitna, which drew 3 million viewers on the LINE stream.
The video streaming feature, however, is still in its conceptual phase as the company needs to figure out how to properly get around the obvious problem of Indonesia’s weak internet infrastructure.
“LINE has to wait and work together with local telecom operators as they are the ones that have the ability to properly address the infrastructure and network issues,” said Ongki, who previously served as digital officer at telecommunications operator XL Axiata.
In the near future, the app plans to also announce a partnership with a major bank that will fall short of being a “financial technology” service. However, no details were immediately available regarding the upcoming partnership.
Ongki insisted that the key to becoming the “most notable and popular communication app” was to focus on closing the distance between users located across the archipelago as well as for businesses who use LINE to peddle their wares to expand their customer range.
Content-wise, the application has steadily evolved from being a messaging app to becoming a platform where news, entertainment and business collide in one package: A target that had been achieved since the company started its Indonesian operations in 2013.
It has gradually tried to enter the news and shopping sectors, with the LINE Today news aggregator service launched in February and the LINE Shopping Marketplace being launched just last Thursday.
“To increase our user base, which is our primary goal at the moment, we need quality and diverse content. From there, even brands that use our service can benefit from our larger user base as it gives them more value to collaborate with others,” Ongki said.
As for the fate of its messaging service, the company claims that its diverse functionality has given LINE the higher ground compared to other messaging services operating in Indonesia as the app boasts a majority of millennial users that make up more than 70 percent of its Indonesian user base.
At the same time, Ongki said localization in terms of content through its widely used Stickers and its trademark LINE Webtoon comics platform have also given it an edge in the market. LINE is reportedly present in about 70 percent of all smartphones active in Indonesia.
LINE recorded a total of 220 million monthly global active users in the second quarter of 2016, with Indonesia listed as its largest market with estimated 90 million users.