Snow, a Snapchat clone that is conquering Asia, is setting its sights beyond the region, betting that it can attract users with stickers that sometimes border on the bizarre.
While Snow, based in Bundang, South Korea, mostly replicates Snapchat’s features, there is something for everyone among its 400 live-motion filters, which include everything from a dancing octopus to Super Saiyan hair.
By comparison, Snapchat offers about two dozen filters, which are renewed daily.
“We actually have a desire to succeed by directly providing our services in the global market,” chief executive officer Kim Chang-wook said at a company event last week. “That’s why we’re moving fast to make sure we have leadership in Asia first.”
Snow got its start last year, when a group of engineers at Web-search provider Naver Corp noticed that Snapchat was struggling to break into Asia. They banded together to see if they could come up with something better.
Now, with more than 80 million downloads, the Snow app has been near or at No. 1 among downloads for iOS and Android smartphones this year in Japan, Singapore and South Korea, according to App Annie, which collects app data.
Snow has also taken off in China, where Snapchat is blocked.
Snow is among the top 100 downloads on major third-party Chinese app markets, including those run by Baidu Inc (百度) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊), as well as on Apple’s App Store.
“It is true downloads are exploding,” said Park Jung-hoon, associate consulting director at Kantar TNS, a data consulting unit of Kantar Group Ltd. “The various visual effects, that are not just pretty, but also bizarre, likely appealed to young folks looking for something more entertaining than just a camera app.”
While Snap Inc, the new name of the Los Angeles-based company behind Snapchat, has amassed more than 60 million daily users, it has not made any significant inroads in Asia, and ranked below 450 by downloads last week for iOS and Android in Japan and South Korea, according to App Annie.
It is no coincidence that Snow emerged from a project at Naver, the South Korean Internet company behind the Line messaging app.
Line, which went public earlier this year, has also carved out a similar niche with a plethora of stamps that people download and send to each other. It is one of the few messaging platforms that brings in revenue, from ads and stamp sales. For now,
Naver has not sought to monetize Snow’s growing pool of users.
“We are trying to add more entertaining functions and fun filters fast,” Kim said. “Going forward, Snow will look a lot different from what it looks like right now.”
Snow has attracted the interest of Facebook Inc, Tencent and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), according to tech Web site TechCrunch, but the chief executive officer is planning to go it alone.
“It is true a number of companies have been showing interest in Snow,” said Kim, who is to be an investment adviser on a new joint 50 billion won (US$53 million) fund between Naver and Softbank Ventures Korea Corp, which is to invest in content businesses.
Competitors are not sitting still. Apart from Snapchat, similar apps have appeared and have become more popular. Faceu, a face recognition camera app by Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co (臉萌科技) and Pitu, an automatic make-up and motion sticker app by Tencent, have recently outpaced Snow downloads in major app stores in China.
“Right now, Snow is more of a camera app than a messaging platform and having just that one function may be insufficient,” Park said. “The fad may end soon unless it widens its business.”
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