CHAT APP LINE TO DEAL WITH NOKIA FOR THE FIRST EVER ANDROID PHONE ' NOKIA X'

           An FINISHED Smartphone maker Nokia are going to launch of its first Android-powered smartphone, there’s another company vying to piggyback on the roll out of the new low-cost phone that will target developing markets: Japan’s popular messaging app, Line.

                                                           

                                                       The Nokia X

               “In partnership with Nokia and  Line will work to boost its global presence through various joint-marketing efforts and by exposing Line in Nokia Store and TV commercials,” Naver, the South Korea-based parent company of Line, said in a statement.The chat app will come pre-loaded on the Nokia X smartphone, which has a competitive price tag of €89 ($122).“Line has a good chance of growth in markets like Southeast Asia and Latin America,” said Jay Park, an analyst with Samsung Securities in Seoul.

            Line, which currently has 350 million registered users, is widely used in Japan and is also popular in countries like Taiwan and Thailand.But to come preloaded on a smartphone is far from being a proven strategy for mobile-app publishers fighting for increased presence in the global market. Users tend to download the application of their choice from respective app stores.Samsung Electronics, for instance, has its own chat app which comes pre-loaded on its Galaxy smartphones. But the app remains a fledgling service for the company despite it being the No. 1 seller of smartphones by shipments.Samsung announced in September that the subscriber base for its ChatOn app surpassed 100 million, which is dwarfed by WhatsApp‘s 450 million monthly active users.On Nokia X, Line will be competing with Viber, which was recently acquired by Rakuten, and China’s WeChat as well. Both chatting apps will come pre-loaded on the device alongside Line,  Nokia said.

            This isn’t the first time Line is pushing the strategy of having its app come preloaded on devices. The company previously tried it with Nokia’s Asha phones, which according to Naver, has yielded “good response” from its users.Following its successful debut in the Japanese market, Line has been quickly adding new subscribers, with its user base doubling in less than a year. A WhatpsApp service outage over the weekend also led Line to add 2 million users.