The thing about LINE (and kakaotalk, etc), though, is that they do a pretty good job of keeping the focus sharply on the essential messaging/voip functionality,

The thing about LINE (and kakaotalk, etc), though, is that they do a pretty good job of keeping the focus sharply on the essential messaging/voip functionality, while still making it very easy to do the "other stuff." You can install LINE and very quickly start chatting with existing friends from your phone address-book, and if you don't want to play games or whatever, their existence doesn't get in your way. In this sense, LINE etc aren't so much like FB or other "giant ball of mud" social apps, and present a much bigger threat to whatsapp.