氣質姐與可愛可

Recently, Sir Paul McCartney, formerly of The Beatles, launched a profile on the mobile social networking app, Line. Within four days, he had 3.1 million fans. To celebrate, McCartney rewarded them with a digital sticker pack that could be used with the Line messaging service. This might not mean much in the real world. However, in the highly competitive online world, Line has shown established apps like Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook that they are a serious competitor.
　　Line is very similar to Skype in that people who download it to their phones can talk to and message others who have the app for free. However, Line wants to be much more than just a clone of another brand. Roughly 80 percent of Line's traffic is from outside Japan, where the company is based. This includes 17 million users in Taiwan. The company is also aggressively building its customer base. That way musicians and movie stars will want to use its services to get directly into the pockets of their biggest fans. It seems as though the sky is the limit for Line.

Words & Phrases

formerly adv. 以前，從前
A great portion of South America was formerly ruled by Spain.
南美洲有一大部分以前被西班牙統治過。

• launch vt. 推出（商品）
  The company conducted a market survey before they launched their new product.
  該公司在推出他們的新產品前先進行了市場調查。
• celebrate vi. & vt. 慶祝
  Vicky's friends brought her favorite chocolate cake to help celebrate her birthday.
  薇琪的朋友買了她最愛的巧克力蛋糕來幫她慶生。
• reward sb with sth　　以某物報答某人
  reward vt. 報答，酬謝
  The company rewarded Allen with a big bonus for his hard work.
  公司發給艾倫一大筆獎金以酬謝他的辛勞。
• digital a. 數位的，數碼的
  If I may, I would like to tell you what is so special about this digital camera.
  如果可以的話，我想向您介紹這台數位相機的特色。
• download vt. 下載
  Christine downloads all her favorite songs from the Internet.
  克莉絲汀從網路上下載所有她最喜歡的歌曲。
• aggressively adv. 積極地
  The software company is aggressively promoting their products all over the world.
  軟體公司正積極地在世界各地推銷他們的產品。
• The sky is the limit.　　不可限量。
  The coach believes the sky is the limit for the talented high school basketball player.
  教練相信那位有天份的高中籃球員前途不可限量。

Extra Words

profile n. 個人檔案；人物簡介（編按：在 Line 介面中稱為官方帳號）

clone n. 翻版，複製品

最近，前披頭四成員保羅‧麥卡尼爵士在手機社群網路應用程式 Line 上推出個人檔案（官方帳號）。四天內他就有了三百一十萬名粉絲。為了慶祝這件事，麥卡尼以能夠和 Line 的簡訊服務來搭配使用的數位貼圖包來回報他們。這在真實世界裡可能沒多大的意義。然而，在競爭激烈的網路世界裡，Line 已向既有的應用程式如推特、WhatsApp 及臉書證明他們是重要的競爭對手。
　　Line 與 Skype 非常相似，因為將它下載到手機上的人能和其他有相同應用程式的人免費通話及傳簡訊。然而，Line 想要的絕不只是成為其他廠牌的翻版。Line 的通訊流量大約八成來自日本（Line 的公司所在地）以外的國家。這包含了在台灣的一千七百萬名用戶。該公司也正積極地建立其顧客基礎。那樣一來，音樂家和電影明星就會想要使用其服務來讓他們最死忠的粉絲直接掏錢購買他們的作品。這樣看來似乎 Line 的前途將不可限量。

引用自常春藤網路書城https://www.ivy.com.tw/index.php