????當蠢笨且表情夸張的日本動漫人物遇上免費短信和語音通話技術(shù)，兩者的結(jié)晶就是日本唯一一款在海外大熱的應(yīng)用——連我（Line）。目前，它的下載量已經(jīng)突破了1億次。

????“它的速度超過電子郵件，比短信更有創(chuàng)意，比打電話還便宜，叫人怎能不愛它，”一位西班牙粉絲在該公司的宣傳視頻中說道。連我應(yīng)用的支持者還有很多。它設(shè)計精巧，已經(jīng)獲得多個獎項，其中包括著名的2012年日經(jīng)優(yōu)秀產(chǎn)品服務(wù)獎（Nikkei Superior Products Service Award 2012）。到目前為止，連我僅在日本就擁有了約4,150萬用戶，其中大部分在30歲以下。

????與微軟（Microsoft）的Skype等全球性產(chǎn)品相比，連我最特別的一點是它出自有些與世隔絕的日本科技業(yè)——產(chǎn)品在國外極少有粉絲。位于東京的技術(shù)顧問塞爾坎?托托稱：“連我最不同尋常的地方在于，它是首款在國際上獲得成功的日本網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)。它在短短19個月內(nèi)就吸引到了6,000萬名海外用戶，可謂前無古人?！彼挠脩粼鏊偕踔脸^了當年的Facebook。

????這款應(yīng)用在日本大獲成功，覆蓋了該國約三分之一的移動用戶，甚至開始威脅日本人信賴了十多年的移動電子郵件。

????連我流行的主要基礎(chǔ)是日本擁有絕對優(yōu)勢的一個領(lǐng)域，也就是設(shè)計和使用表情符號。在連我中，這些表情符號已經(jīng)發(fā)展成完整的角色形象，例如神秘的月亮意味著“你永遠不知道接下來會發(fā)生什么”。這些表情符號被稱為“貼圖”，目的是幫助用戶以詼諧的方式傳達信息。

????雖然許多貼圖都是免費的，但據(jù)知情人士透露，這項業(yè)務(wù)每月能為連我的開發(fā)商NHN日本（NHN Japan）帶來高達400萬美元的利潤。不過NHN日本并沒有發(fā)布官方的數(shù)據(jù)。NHN日本每月還能進賬數(shù)百萬日元的廣告費，目前有30多家公司在連我上發(fā)布優(yōu)惠券等類型的廣告信息。除此之外，程序內(nèi)購買也是連我的穩(wěn)定收入來源。

????不過，連我的其它服務(wù)目前發(fā)展不甚順暢。據(jù)托托透露，時間線功能（類似于Facebook的動態(tài)信息）已宣告失敗?！癗HN日本正在大力推廣星座、優(yōu)惠券、虛擬世界、兒童平臺等服務(wù)，不過它們到底是能吸引到更多用戶，還是會起到反作用，目前仍是個未知數(shù)。 ”

????What do you get if you cross emoting, goofy manga characters with free messaging and calls? Japan's only export app hit—called Line—which recently hit its 100 millionth download.

????"Faster than email, more creative than text and cheaper than calling, what's not to love," says one Spanish fan on the company promotional video. He's not the app's only booster. Line is a slickly designed product that has garnered awards, including a prestigious Nikkei Superior Products Service Award 2012. So far, Line has some 41.5 million subscribers, mostly under 30 years old, in Japan alone.

????What really sets Line apart from other globalised formats such as Microsoft's (MSFT) Skype is that it has come out of the Galapagos-like conditions of the Japanese tech scene: its wares rarely find fans abroad. "What's remarkable about Line is that is the first online service coming from Japan ever to become an international success," says Serkan Toto a technology consultant based in Tokyo. "Racking up 60 million non-Japanese users in just 19 months is a historic accomplishment." That is at a faster pace than even Facebook (FB) found subscribers.

????The app is so wildly popular in Japan, covering about a third of all mobile users, that it is killing use of communication sworn by Japanese for over a decade now—mobile email.

????Much of the app's popularity rides on one area where Japan has an unassailable lead, the design and playful use of emoji or Japanese emoticons. On the Line app they have grown into fully delineated characters such as the enigmatic Moon "You never know next what will be happing with this one". They are called "stickers," and are intended to help users get their message across in amusing ways.

????Sales of such stickers, though many are free, are earning Line's creators NHN Japan healthy profits of about $4 million a month, according to sources familiar with the company. NHN does not share such figures. While other revenue comes from about 30 companies who pay several million yen a month for advertising on the service, such as distributing coupons. There is also steady earnings from an in-app game service.

????Other services have not been so successful. Features such as a timeline, which essentially works like Facebook's news feed, have flopped says Toto. "It remains to be see if other functions NHN Japan keeps baking into the platform like horoscopes, coupons, a virtual world, a platform for kids, etc. will attract more users or alienate them."