The app was launched as Line in June 2011. Lee was inspired to launch a messaging and chat app in the wake of the disaster, and his NHN Japan team was testing a beta version of an app accessible on smartphones, tablet, and PC, which would work on data network and provide continuous and free instant messaging and calling service, within two months. Since Wi-Fi and some 3G remained largely usable, many people turned to KakaoTalk, which was just beginning to gain a foothold in Japan. The earthquake and tsunami left millions without power, and phone lines and SMS networks were overwhelmed. Naver/NHN had been in Japan for ten years, trying to build a Japanese search and portal business, since NHN's other international ventures had stagnated. Naver/NHN co-founder and chairman Lee Hae-Jin and a team of engineers were in Japan when the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami struck in March 2011. However, rival Korean company Kakao had first-mover advantage with its KakaoTalk app launched in March 2010, and easily dominated the Korean market by March 2012. In South Korea, the home of NHN Japan's parent company Naver Corporation, Naver had launched a messaging app called Naver Talk for the South Korean market in February 2011. Line is the most popular messaging application in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand. Under the new structure, A Holdings, a subsidiary of SoftBank Corporation and Naver Corporation, will own 65.3% of Z Holdings, which will operate Line and Yahoo! Japan. In March 2021, SoftBank Group affiliate and Yahoo! Japan operator Z Holdings completed a merger with Line Corporation.

Line became Japan's largest social network in 2013, with more than 300 million users. It reached 100 million users within 18 months and 200 million users six months later. Because it was tailored to Japanese consumers' tastes, and offered free smartphone calls as well as texting, with the help of a massive marketing campaign it quickly outpaced its existing rival KakaoTalk for the Japanese market. Line was launched in Japan in June 2011 by NHN Japan, a subsidiary of Naver Corporation. The service is operated by Line Corporation, a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Softbank Group and the Seoul-based Naver Corporation. In addition, Line is a platform providing various services including digital wallet as Line Pay, news stream as LINE Today, video on demand as Line TV, and digital comic distribution as Line Manga and Line Webtoon. Line users exchange texts, images, video and audio, and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences. Line, styled LINE, is a freeware app for instant communications on electronic devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, and personal computers. Instant messaging, Social networking service English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Arabic, Turkish

Korean keyboard for android free