Born from Japan disasters, Line app sets sights on U.S., China

Born in the chaos after Japan's 2011 disasters, the smartphone application "Line" has attracted 50 million users faster than Facebook with a made-in-Japan blend of cute and the promise of free communication. Now, the company behind the application is readying an online media campaign to promote the app in China and the United States to sustain its meteoric growth rate and hit the 100 million-user mark by December. Line allows users to text and call from their smartphones using the existing data plan so users can communicate via the Internet and not be charged for a cell call. It has topped Apple's App Store rankings for downloads in 24 countries from Kuwait to Kazakhstan. To distinguish itself from other communication apps, Line offers its own games, a camera app, and a social platform complete with a timeline and homepage, similar to Facebook.