Korean messaging giant Line can be found on just about any platform, including Windows PCs, and currently holds the messaging app crown in Japan, while placing in the top five in most Asian markets. With 216 million monthly active users compared to the reigning champ WhatsApp’s recent attainment of the 1 billion mark, they’re not doing terribly bad on the world stage. The app is owned by South Korean Naver Corp, but operates as its own company, Line Corporation. Attempts to become a full-fledged web platform, in the vein of Facebook’s Messenger, are coming along quite nicely in some markets. In Indonesia, however, they’ve decided to make a new effort to pull ahead of their rivals and out of fourth place by integrating with the country’s most popular taxi service, PT Go-Jek Indonesia. This is the first arrangement of this sort that Line has made and it’s hoping that this will attract enough users to give them the kind of momentum they’ll need to outpace Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp, as well as WeChat.
Although many users may already have Go-Jek’s official app, Line has made integration very simple and hopes this will court current app users and new users of Go-Jek’s service. To get started, all a user has to do is add Go-Jek’s official account, gojekindonesia, to their friends list. From there, they’ll be presented with a picture. Tapping that begins a relatively simple signup process. After the initial signup is completed, all users have to do to hail is message the word “Order” to Go-Jek’s account. They’ll receive some info on their driver, as well as contact info if needed, and the driver will be on their way.
Along with the obvious benefits of being cheaper and faster than a traditional taxi, motorcycle taxi Go-Jek is now easier to reach than ever. They are already Indonesia’s most popular motorcycle taxi, given the often rather difficult traffic in the main cities, but Go-Jek may just become more popular thanks to this deal. Line has 30 million users in Indonesia and Go-Jek’s app has been downloaded 6 million times, though they did not disclose the number of active users. There are over 200,000 registered drivers across 10 cities.