A Study of Key Success Factors of Mobile Instant Messaging
In my master’s thesis, I explored the factors that made LINE, the most popular mobile instant message(MIM) application in Taiwan, take most of the market share, surpassing the other two global MIM giants, WhatsApp and WeChat.The success factors were analyzed by discussing the global competitors and the MIM ecosystem in Taiwan.
Time: 2015- 2017
Methods: Interview, Focus group interview
Research Background
LINE has become the most popular mobile instant messaging (MIM) service in Taiwan since 2011, having the largest user base, surpassing even main global messaging services such as WhatsApp and WeChat. Although they were introduced earlier than LINE and have more active users around the world, they fail to rock LINE’s dominant position in Taiwan. Hence, owing to the success of LINE in Taiwan, it is essential to understand not only the critical successful factors of MIM but also the unique niche in the market in Taiwan.
My research goals are the following:
Explore the successful factors of WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE.
Discuss the circumstances of the MIM industry in Taiwan.
Conclude the successful factors of the MiM development in Taiwan.
Research Methods
With the aim to pin down the successful factors of MIM development in Taiwan, I decided to use Document Analysis, In-Depth Interview, and Focus Group Interview in the research. The first section discusses the overall success factors of MIM, while the second analyzes how the eco-system of the MIM industry in Taiwan contributes to LINE’s rapid success and flourish in Taiwan.
Analyze Structure
According to the successful factor theory, the study should include both external and internal perspective, and be further divided into five different aspects, including Environment, Industry Environment, User, Product Content, and Business Strategy.
Research Findings
The study lays out the external and internal factors that affect the mobile messaging service. The chapter is separated into five sections, each of which presents the results relating to one of the research goals.
The successful factors of WhatApp, WeChat, and LINE
The eco-system of Taiwan’s MIM industry
Research Results and Takeaway
The study shows the MIM environment in Taiwan and the success factors both from external and internal aspects. As described above, the results demonstrate the improvement of mobile phone features, the stability and penetration rates of mobile network, and the close connection between members are external key success factors. As for internal key success factors, differentiation between products, clear brand position, marketing strategies and developing business models are included.
Hence, the successful factors of the MIM development in Taiwan could be concluded as below:
