WeChat, the massively popular messaging service, might be a leviathan in the Chinese market. But aspiring regional rival Line Corp is determined to take a chunk out of the behemoth.

Line Corp, created in Tokyo in 2011 by a unit of South Korean Internet firm Naver Corp, plans to expand in the Chinese market later this year through the establishment of a local team focused on developing localized content and services for a further capitalization on the world's top smartphone market, Wall Street Journal said in an article dated June 13.

"China is our target market," Hyunbin Kang, Line's head of business development, told the Journal.

But an expansion into the Chinese market, a stronghold for Tencent's WeChat, has made industry analysts warn that it might be too risky a bet, as even Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has failed to attract enough users to its rival app, Laiwang.

As of April 1, Line had 400 million subscribers globally, and aims for a target of 500 million to 600 million users by the end of 2014, according to the company. Specifics for the Chinese market have yet to be disclosed, and the number of monthly active users, the industry standard, is also unknown.

Japan, Line's largest market, reportedly accounts for about 20 percent of its total users, while the rest are from across the world.

In comparison, Tencent's latest quarter fiscal disclosure showed that WeChat hit 396 million monthly active users at the end of the first quarter of 2014, mostly domestic users.

It seems that Line is banking on its prowess in stickers, images sent between users, to woo Chinese, less fazed by WeChat's having already amassed a gigantic user base.

"The download of Line in China has increased significantly after the TV drama was shown as users want to share the emotional feelings of the [South] Korean celebrities," said Kang at Line, referring to some popular South Korean television dramas that have helped the app lure Chinese users.

In a suggestion of its ability to monetize on stickers, Line said in a statement on its website on June 11 that more than 80,000 creators have registered with its proprietary platform that allows the creation and sales of stickers by users, since the platform's opening in mid-April. Total sales for the marketplace had hit over 150 million yen ($1.47 million), according to the statement. Line didn't reveal a breakdown of sales by countries and regions.

Celina Zhang in her late 20s is one of the users in China that Line has roped in by offering a variety of emoticons featuring South Korean celebrities.

But Zhang played down the attractiveness of Line for frequent usage, as she told the Global Times on Wednesday "its stickers are very funny and attractive, but only a few of my friends use the app, thus I still largely depend on WeChat."

It is hard to foretell the fate of Line's expansion in the Chinese market for the time being, Jia Jinghua, a Shandong-based industry commentator, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"For Chinese users who have long been immersed in Tencent culture in the Internet messaging arena, the likes of Line that provide users with more interactivity could refresh their knowledge of social networking," said Jia, who stressed this would only happen when the latecomers could be appealing enough to local users.

The analyst also said while it might be a bumpy road for Line to chase its dreams in China, likewise, it would be equally difficult, or some harder, for WeChat to be truly a contender in the marketplace for mobile messaging beyond China.

Line

A broad array of stickers featuring nuanced emotions in the distinct style of Japanese manga, are, for many of the messaging app's fans in China, either the top or the only reason they enroll in Line. Among its sticker character sets, varied editions of Moon, known as steamed bun man for Chinese users, are probably the best known. The chubby-headed creature could easily capture the interest of users with its well-illustrated, funny expressions.

In addition to various manga characters, Line has shown its adeptness at roping in young Chinese women by introducing sticker sets featuring the protagonists of popular South Korean soap operas.

It offers both free stickers and paid ones selling for 12 yuan ($1.95) a set.

WeChat

While WeChat has built up a formidable subscriber base in its home market, its strength in the niche segment of stickers has yet to be proven.

It seems that an animated sticker system headed by WeChat's offering of Tuzki line of emoticons, which are still all the rage for Chinese Internet users, has been adding passion to the use of the messaging app.

The likes of Mr Egg, Frog and Horse are capable of coaxing users who enjoy their  somewhat wacky humor.

WeChat has also included packs of emoticons featuring some of the most latest and beloved cartoon characters such as the Minions from the animated comedy film Despicable Me, and Blu, the male blue macaw in the movie Rio.

KakaoTalk 

KakaoTalk, a hugely popular mobile messaging application in South Korea, has also extended its presence into the Chinese market, but it appears it's hardly an easy job for KakaoTalk to flex its muscle in China. Yet another array of "cute" emoticons hardly manages to distinguish it from rivals.

Its sticker packs, as such, may not be that different from that of Line, save for its dwarfing by Line in terms of the number of offerings.

KakaoTalk also has a much lower profile compared to Line, denting the spirit of users holding on to the app.