Japan Telecom Application Line acquisition MixRadio not disclose the specific amount

Japan Telecom application Line announced that the company has acquired Microsoft's music service MixRadio, but did not disclose the specific amount of the acquisition.

Line currently has 500 million registered users, the monthly number of active users up to 170 million people. Last week, line just announced the launch of a music streaming business in Japan. The two services will be independent of each other, according to musically, an online media platform. Previously, line has been working with Avex digital and Sony Music Entertainment to build its Japanese music service, and now its plans have become clear that the company will use MixRadio to cover overseas markets.

MixRadio claims to have Windows Phone users from 31 countries, but the service has not yet landed on iOS or Android platforms. The acquisition of the service means that line will save a lot of time and money to invest, because if the company wants to launch its own services in overseas markets, it must launch a licensing negotiation, industry insiders say.

The move also underscores the line's strategy that the company will expand its communications applications beyond chat to create a mobile entertainment platform. In addition to communication capabilities, line users now have the platform to play games, chasing stars and brands, and Line has just released a payment service two days ago. In addition, the company plans to launch a taxi service and food courier service in the Japanese market.

Japan, Taiwan and Thailand are the largest markets in line, representing more than half of its active users, but the company is now focusing on developing overseas markets. According to line, its human tolerance in Spain, Mexico and parts of Latin America is rising, and using MixRadio's user base may help line improve its visibility and user coverage.

At the same time, MixRadio will benefit from the deal. MixRadio did not provide information about the number of users, but almost certainly not the same services as Spotify, Beats, Pandora and Rdio, while partners like Line helped improve the service's human tolerance and eventually landed on the Android and iOS platforms.

The deal also underscores the growing clout of Asia's top technology companies and their global ambitions, industry insiders say. This is not the first deal in line, but it is the first outside of the region, which may send a signal to the market that future Chinese micro-letters and South Korea's Kakao Talk will also shift their focus to multimedia users outside the region.