LINE is shutting down music streaming service MixRadio, which it bought from Microsoft in December 2014, due to “financial challenges”.

Meanwhile, it launched a camera app called Foodie, in the hope of capitalising on the popular trend of sharing photos of food on social media.

MixRadio
LINE said in a statement that “after a careful assessment of the subsidiary’s overall performance, the financial challenges posed by the music streaming market and the priorities of the company, LINE has determined that future growth would be difficult to ensure and decided to discontinue the MixRadio music streaming service”.

“The MixRadio music streaming service will be discontinued in the coming weeks as we work with the technical team and partners to ensure a smooth closure,” it added.

LINE will continue to provide music streaming with LINE Music, currently available in Japan and Thailand.

MixRadio was launched by Nokia in 2007 and was called ‘Comes With Music’, before being rebranded in 2013, and eventually sold to LINE following Microsoft’s acquisition of the the Finnish company’s devices and services business.

Earlier this year, Microsoft acquired Groove, an iOS music streaming app which shares its name with Microsoft’s own music service and which is no longer available for download.

Foodie
LINE launched a new iOS and Android photography app called Foodie, which makes pictures of food look “more delicious”. It comes with 24 filters, including cuisine-specific settings such as ‘meat’, ‘sushi’ and ‘cake’.

The app’s ‘best angle’ feature lets users know “through vibration and colour” when the camera is positioned horizontally above the subject in order to take the perfect ‘flat lay’ photo.

Foodie also “offers the basic features expected of a camera app” including sharing to social networks like Instagram and Twitter.

LINE said it wants the app to “follow the example set by B612”, its dedicated selfie camera app, that has more than 100 million downloads.

“Going forward, Foodie will continue to develop food-specific features, such as filters and effects, that allow users to have more enjoyable and enriching communication experiences through food photos,” said LINE.