????喜歡收集虛擬貼圖的用戶大多位于亞洲，這些地區(qū)多年以來(lái)一直深受“Hello Kitty”等日本動(dòng)漫文化的影響。但與GREE和DeNA等成功突圍的日本企業(yè)一樣，NHN日本的韓國(guó)母公司Naver也希望連我能在全球和美國(guó)市場(chǎng)取得更大成功。

????Naver最近聘請(qǐng)了美國(guó)說(shuō)唱歌手史諾普?道格為代言人，向美國(guó)兒童宣傳用日本風(fēng)格的動(dòng)漫形象發(fā)送信息是多么潮。由此可見，Naver正在花費(fèi)重金吸引美國(guó)用戶。Naver美國(guó)的首席執(zhí)行官簡(jiǎn)妮?韓稱：“我們實(shí)現(xiàn)了飛速增長(zhǎng)，最初是依靠吸引與日本和韓國(guó)有關(guān)系的用戶?，F(xiàn)在，我們的產(chǎn)品在全世界都獲得了更廣泛的參與?！?/p>

????“我們現(xiàn)有的很多貼圖都已在美國(guó)流行開來(lái)，尤其是拿手的動(dòng)漫形象。我們還計(jì)劃在今后幾個(gè)月向歐美市場(chǎng)推出更多更加本地化的內(nèi)容，”韓還補(bǔ)充說(shuō)?！斑B我的主要優(yōu)勢(shì)之一在于，我們承諾不會(huì)像其他應(yīng)用程序開發(fā)商那樣通過(guò)挖掘用戶數(shù)據(jù)賺錢?！?/p>

????日本創(chuàng)業(yè)大師威廉?齊藤稱，連我要想在美國(guó)市場(chǎng)取得成功，需要克服一些挑戰(zhàn)。他指出，連我要求用戶用手機(jī)號(hào)碼注冊(cè)，存在濫用的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)?！笆状伟惭b時(shí)，連我就根據(jù)你的手機(jī)號(hào)碼建立索引。這種做法存在極大的安全隱患。一旦NHN的數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)泄露（這只是時(shí)間早晚的問(wèn)題），即便非連我用戶，其聯(lián)絡(luò)信息也可能被泄露，”齊藤說(shuō)道?！凹偃缬幸惶毂葼?蓋茨或日本首相（連我的用戶）接到騷擾電話，那么很可能是連我出現(xiàn)了信息泄露?！?/p>

????齊藤認(rèn)可貼圖功能的吸引力，也承認(rèn)發(fā)送貼圖和創(chuàng)建群組都很簡(jiǎn)單。但他同時(shí)指出，要在歐美市場(chǎng)推銷可愛的卡通動(dòng)漫形象，恐怕沒(méi)有在亞洲容易，而且群聊功能對(duì)美國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)也并不陌生。不過(guò)，Naver似乎正在非常賣力地向亞洲以外的市場(chǎng)推廣連我，期望它能風(fēng)行全球。

????齊藤說(shuō)：“連我面臨的挑戰(zhàn)在于，從地域上講，全球流行的聊天應(yīng)用都有各自的勢(shì)力范圍。目前幾乎沒(méi)有什么‘溢出效應(yīng)’，也不清楚最終是否會(huì)出現(xiàn)一個(gè)全球性的贏家。而假如有的話，又會(huì)是哪一款應(yīng)用。我個(gè)人認(rèn)為，一家韓國(guó)公司的日本子公司很難打造出一款在全球獲得成功的社交應(yīng)用，不過(guò)我希望自己是錯(cuò)的?！保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：項(xiàng)航

????Users driven to collect virtual stickers reside in Asia for the most part, where for years they have lapped up Japanese exports such as manga, and "Hello Kitty" characters culture more readily than elsewhere. But like other Japanese successes such as GREE and DeNA the app maker's parent company Naver, of South Korea, wants to make a bigger impact globally and on the US now.

????With newly acquired pitchman Snoop Dogg in tow in the US to tell the kids how cool it is to message with Japanese-style characters, Naver is investing heavily in acquiring new users here. "We have had a tremendous organic take up initially by users with a connection to Japan and Korea but more recently we've seen broader engagement with the product," says Jeanie Han Naver USA's CEO.

????"Many of our existing stickers have proved popular with users in the US particularly our flagship characters however, in addition over the coming months we will be producing more and more localized content for users in the US and Europe." One of Line's strong suits is that it promises not to mine personal data to make money, unlike some similar app makers, she adds.

????Rhere are some challenges to the success of Line in US says Japan start-up guru William Saito. He points out that the requirement from users to register with their cell phone number is open to abuse. "From the first install, it indexes you based on your cell phone number. Thus, in this use case, I see an incredible security risk where, when (it's just a matter of time) the database at NHN is compromised, it could potentially release contact information of people who aren't even Line users," he says. "The day Bill Gates or the Japanese Prime Minister [a Line user] gets random calls from people, you can guess it was a Line leak."

????He sees the attraction of the stickers, the ease of sending them and how creating a group chat is relatively easy but points out the selling of "cute" characters may not be as portable as it is in Asia. Nor is group chatting foreign to US residents. Nonetheless, Naver appears to putting as much effort, if not more, into making Line a hit outside Asia as it did on that continent. The hope is to make Line a worldwide hit.

????"The challenge for Line will be that the chat apps that are popular worldwide are each used in different geographical silos," says Toto. "There is hardly any spill-over at the moment, and it's unclear if there will be a global winner in this race and if at all, which service that will be. "Personally, I have my doubts that the Japanese subsidiary of a Korean company can operate a globally successful social app, but I hope I will be proven wrong."