Comment by doctorpangloss | Hacker News Reader

Comment by doctorpangloss | Hacker News Reader

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East Asian or "Big in Japan" software rarely ports to the United States because the software flourishes under corporate nepotism. While installed on 72% of Japanese iPhones, Line's Android app is vastly more popular, mostly because it comes preinstalled on so many devices.

Not that coercive software installs are limited to Android. Baidu, Tencent and AliBaba live and die by shipping their own stores on iOS[0], where according to old estimates nearly 1/3 of iOS devices in China are jailbroken by carriers.

By these standards, Minesweeper is an enormously popular game. But we all understand its success as a creative product is owed largely to shipping with Windows.

Software in East Asia would export better if it grew in a more meritocratic environment. Say what you will about the top charts of iOS and how they got there, but the teams behind the top charts deliver great stuff in short time better than their competitors. No corruption.

[0] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/19/business/global/baidu-deal...

> Software in East Asia would export better if it grew in a more meritocratic environment.

That sounds about as antiquated as "Asians can't innovate, they just copy". I actually heard that line out of an American kid who had just arrived in Asia. He was, needless to say, a complete idiot.

The penetration rate of Line in Thailand is very high. My friends and I were early adopters and saw it grow organically, mostly because of the stickers included in the app (they're funny).

Having used Line daily for one -- probably closer to two -- years I can say it's a well made app. You don't need a conspiracy theory or to insult Japanese culture to account for its success.

Which is why Line could really make it that big. Line competed and won against Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, Skype, etc for iOS and Android in many Asian countries (not just Japan and Korea).

* It's a good product -- people like using it, and they keep using it.

* They know mobile marketing very well -- it's common to see Line and affiliated apps dominating the charts in the appstore.

* They know how to be international -- they've successfully marketed across multiple cultures.

* They are very innovative -- they constantly try out new business models and release multiple features.

It's no wonder that so many companies are copying them -- Facebook, Path, Wechat. It's a company that's worth paying attention to.

(edited for format)

You mean that US and european android phone makers don't cut deals with app makers to preinstall their fabulous app on the user devices ?

Edit: cut out unneeded part

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