Line messaging app updated with support for Line Pay mobile payment service
With the growing popularity of Apple Pay, the mobile payment space has never been as interesting and profit-making as it is now. Line, the Japan-based company behind the popular messaging app of the same name, is apparently well aware of this, as it has just begun rolling out its very own mobile payment service.
As reported by TechCrunch, the new service, called Line Pay, is set to become available in the coming weeks to all users, except those in China (where WeChat offers a similar service) and South Korea (same with KakaoTalk).
Line Pay allows you to make secure payments using the Line app, provided it’s been linked with a credit card from American Express, Diner’s Club, JCB, MasterCard, or Visa.
For now, Line Pay supports payments for stickers and themes in the Line Store. But it’s planned for expansion to also support online and in-app purchases, brick-and-mortar store payments, and peer-to-peer money transfer (which has been offered in Snapchat and Dasher, and at least tested in Facebook Messenger).
Line Pay is being rolled out through the latest update to the Line app, which also includes a typing status feature for one-on-one chatrooms in certain countries, voice and video call quality improvements, and various bug fixes and UI tweaks.
Line for iPad is also available, but it’s yet to be updated with Line Pay support and the other aforementioned improvements.
See also: Google Wallet updated with Material Design, charge splitting and Touch ID support, Viber messaging app expands platform to integrate with mobile games, and Prospective Apple Pay partner Alibaba updates Alipay app with Touch ID integration.
