Takeshi Idezawa, the CEO of the popular messaging app Line, has confirmed that it is turning its back on Western markets to focus solely on four Asian countries. From now on, Line will focus entirely on Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia. Idezawa has said that it has narrowed its focus so that it can establish itself as a firm leader in those markets before American and Chinese companies turn their attention to them. It is currently the number one messaging app in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan and the number two messaging app in Indonesia. Idezawa also revealed that the company would be focusing on developing AI and chatbots, as this is what it considers to be the future of messaging apps. Line hopes that in the not-too-distant future, it will have developed AI-powered chatbots that will be able to help businesses communicate efficiently with customers on its platform.Â
