App Harnesses the Global Success of “Selfie Culture,”Reaches Milestone Less Than 6 Months After Release

 

Tokyo, Japan – February 24, 2015 – LINE Corporation, owner and operator of the free call and messaging app LINE, announced that its selfie camera app “B612”, available for free on Android and iPhone devices, surpassed 20 million downloads worldwide on February 6, 2015.

A global boom of people taking pictures of themselves and posting these “selfies” on social networks is attracting increased attention around the world in recent years. Selfies are so popular that the term was even selected as one of the words that best represented 2013 by the Oxford Dictionary. The “Selfie Stick”, a hand-held tripod for taking selfies, was elected as one of the most important inventions of 2014 by TIME Magazine in the United States the following year. This points to the fact that the new tradition of taking selfies is becoming increasingly more pronounced worldwide.

 

Amidst the rising tide of selfie mania sweeping the globe, LINE launched B612, a camera app designed specifically for taking selfies, in August 2014. In addition to allowing users to snap photos one-handed, the app also offers a feature that auto-focuses on people and settings that let the user choose the front-facing camera as their default one. B612’s robust functionality includes built-in filters, collage mode, and a video mode, allowing users to take and edit selfies all inside the same app. Users can also share photos with friends by posting them directly to LINE, Instagram, Facebook, or their social network of choice.

 

Along with a variety of photo shooting and filter options, B612 also makes taking selfies as easy as possible with an intuitive user interface that has been well-received by selfie enthusiasts everywhere, propelling the app to the number one spot in the App Store free app rankings in 8 countries, including Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand. As a result of the popularity B612 has achieved in North and Central American countries like Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, and the United States, the app reached 20 million downloads worldwide on February 6, 2015, less than six months since beginning service.

 

LINE plans to continue adding more features and improvements to B612 in order to make the world of selfie-based smartphone communication more enjoyable for users everywhere.

 

Overview of App

App name: B612

Supported devices: Android and iPhone

Supported languages: Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese

Supported regions: Global

Service began: August 13, 2014 (iPhone), October 9, 2014 (Android)

Cost: Free

Operator: LINE Corporation

App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/b612-selfie-with-the-heart/id904209370?l=en&mt=8

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linecorp.b612.android

 

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