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The list of US firms are media companies and also the reason people choose their products is software.

Why didn’t Sony, Nintendo and Sega become the biggest firms in Japan? They were well positioned to become its biggest media companies. Why is WhatsApp adopted widely without preloading but not LINE, which was way ahead of the curve in terms of media apps?

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Those are all strong and (at varying times) very innovative companies, but I don't see how any of them were positioned to be media companies in Japan. Sony owns a lot of media assets (ie Sony Pictures) but those are from M&A rather than something developed by the core business.

LINE is far more popular in Japan than WhatsApp. It's a Korean company, and if you mean why it never took off outside of Asia, I suspect its a matter of network effects, but I have not looked into it in detail.

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