Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Webdate Releases Brazen Viral Videos

PR WEB --  Apr 4 -- Webdate has released a hilarious, frank and brazen look at the world of online personals dating, on online video, and is enjoying a twenty fold increase in site traffic this week. Apparently, some of these videos, like “Little Big Love” are getting over 100,000 unique views per hour. Ten revealing and hard hitting videos uncover the lighter side of Internet dating. Other videos also highlight the most outrageous and amusing faces of online dating. As a testament to its line, ‘You can’t hide when it’s live!’ Webdate has pioneered the concept of having the first date online, rather than at Starbucks or a pricey restaurant. ‘Webdating’ is the new safe and secure way to date where two individuals can go on their first date online using Webdates patented video chat. Webdate users have the ability to meet each other and get a feel for each other’s personality and get to know each other a little better before they take it offline. Webdate is also the mobile dating leader; available on Sprint, Nextel, Boost, US Cellular, and more major carriers coming soon. Users can search, view profiles and communicate with the entire Webdate user base of 6 million users from their cell phones and PDAs. RELEASE @ PR WEB   

Outrageous Webdate Videos

Mar 24 -- This is hilarious.  Check out Webdate's videos - http://video.webdate.com.  The video on the top right is the best I think.  Samson and the dwarf a.k.a. 'Little Big Love.'  The Webdate vids on the bottom right and bottom left come in 2rd and 3rd, I think.  'Beach Bummer' and 'Cougar.'  This tongue in cheek approach is delightfully daft, and refreshing.  Webdate's new tagline, "Real People, Real Results, Real Easy."  Nice!  And then..."'Cos you can't hide when it's live."  Webdate is leaning on it's webcam based dating.  And hey, 'webdating' makes for a safe first date...can't get much safer than when you're sitting behind a cam.  I expect Webdate to hit the ball home this year.  I hear the mobile dating is taking off nicely for them as well.  I interviewed Abe Smilowitz about webdating and mobile dating recently.  - Mark Brooks

Outrageous Webdate Videos

Mar 24 -- This is hilarious.  Check out Webdate's videos - http://video.webdate.com.  The video on the top right is the best I think.  Samson and the dwarf a.k.a. 'Little Big Love.'  The Webdate vids on the bottom right and bottom left come in 2rd and 3rd, I think.  'Beach Bummer' and 'Cougar.'  This tongue in cheek approach is delightfully daft, and refreshing.  Webdate's new tagline, "Real People, Real Results, Real Easy."  Nice!  And then..."'Cos you can't hide when it's live."  Webdate is leaning on it's webcam based dating.  And hey, 'webdating' makes for a safe first date...can't get much safer than when you're sitting behind a cam.  I expect Webdate to hit the ball home this year.  I hear the mobile dating is taking off nicely for them as well.  I interviewed Abe Smilowitz about webdating and mobile dating recently.  - Mark Brooks

Perils of Online Dating Prompt Safety Efforts

REUTERS -- Mar 21 -- Josie Brown never had a chance against her 6-foot-6-inch killer.  John Gaumer, confessed and led Baltimore County police to Brown's body on February 7, listed his height and other attributes in his quest for dates on MySpace.com.  "There are millions of people we're dealing with here and somehow people think they are all preachers," said Paul Falzone, CEO of Together Dating, a brick-and-mortar company that performs background checks on all members. Falzone says background checks result in 10% of applicants being rejected.  For most of the 40 million people using Internet sites for dating and socializing each month, a disastrous 15 minutes over coffee at Starbucks is the worst they will suffer.  Only a small percentage of "intimate partner violence" -- nearly 700,000 such incidents were reported to the U.S. Dept of Justice in 2001 -- originate from Internet dating, according to Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch, which monitors the dating industry.  "To think a felon could find a victim, especially for a heinous crime, gives me the heebie-jeebies. I do all I can do to prevent that," said Herb Vest, TRUE.com CEO.  So far, California, Florida, Texas and Michigan have considered (background checks) legislation.  Yahoo! and Match.com, the industry leaders with 6 million and 15 million monthly visitors respectively, continually stress dating safety.  "The Internet has its dark side and they are not doing everything they can to keep sexual predators and gold diggers off these sites. If you don't police yourselves, the government will come in and police you," said Michigan state Sen. Alan Cropsey.  "There are other ways to get to who that person is, rather than have the government ram a business model down your throat," said Abe Smilowitz, CEO of Webdate.  Webdate uses real-time video as a safety measure, allowing prospective dates to chat and get a look at each other via Webcams.  Companies like Safedate and Honestyonline are springing up to run background checks for individuals. According to Dr. John Gray, education is the solution.  "The warning signs often come out right away. Beware of someone who can solve all your problems or who comes on really strong," said Gray. 

Online Personals Watch Interview, CEO of Webdate, Abe Smilowitz

OPW INTERVIEW -- Mar 15, 2006 -- Webdate is blazing a trail with it's webcam based dating and mobile dating platform.  It's taking a futuristic position.  I caught up with Abe Smilowitz, CEO of Webdate...

What is webdating?
Webdating is the new safe and secure way to date where two individuals can go on their first date online using our patented video chat. They have the ability to meet each other and get a feel for each other’s personality and get to know each other a little better before they take it offline.With ‘webdating,’ you get a feel for chemistry and the ability to pinpoint each other’s personality and character; you can see them, see how they smile, see how they move and this gives you insight into what that person is really like as opposed to just reading a typed profile or chat with them on IM which is less personal.

What proportion of your membership is actively using webcams for webdating these days?
80% of our users have used videochat. At any given time, there are abut 1000 - 1500 people using webcams at one point or another. Webcams are inexpensive and easy to purchase these days. They usually run about $30.

Webdate is channel agnostic? What's that mean?
Users are able to meet in a variety of ways and methods. They are able to communicate and interact with each other online as well as through their mobile phones. Actually, they are able to interact from their mobile phones with people online as well. So, a user that is on their mobile phone can interact with people online at any given time. We allow users to interact with a variety of different methods and communicate regardless of what type of technology they have whether it be mobile or internet.

What cell phone carriers are you on deck with now?
We use Sprint, Nextel, US Cellular and Boost. We also are about to add Cricket and will launch with a major/top 3 carrier; but I’m not at liberty to announce that just yet.

Do you think mobile dating will overtake online dating one day?
No – I think they will work together. One won’t take over the other. I think there will definitely be more growth in mobile dating than the online stage. The online stage is more of a mature market place. The mobile area is starting to grow and hasn’t met its maturity level. It’s still a virgin market.

What are your estimates for the 2006 mobile dating market size?
It’s such an emerging market place…and it really depends on what deck placement you get and and what kind of compatibility you get with handsets. It’s difficult to estimate the market revenue for 2006; however, in the near future, I feel it will be in the billions of dollars in the mobile Space. Everyone has a mobile phone and not everyone has a computer or internet access. Cell Phone companies are giving out internet ready phones now, so as more people are renewing their contracts and time goes by, everyone is potentially a customer. Online is a different experience; you need a computer, high speed internet access…or dial-up. The cell phone market potentially has far more reach than online does.

What are you plans for webdate in 2006?
We will expand our global and online reach and work on some other projects that I cannot mention at this time.

Mobile Dating Watch Interview, CEO of Webdate, Abe Smilowitz

MDW INTERVIEW -- Mar 15 -- Webdate is blazing a trail with it's webcam based dating and mobile dating platform.  It's taking a futuristic position.  I caught up with Abe Smilowitz, CEO of Webdate...

What is webdating?
Webdating is the new safe and secure way to date where two individuals can go on their first date online using our patented video chat. They have the ability to meet each other and get a feel for each other’s personality and get to know each other a little better before they take it offline.With ‘webdating,’ you get a feel for chemistry and the ability to pinpoint each other’s personality and character; you can see them, see how they smile, see how they move and this gives you insight into what that person is really like as opposed to just reading a typed profile or chat with them on IM which is less personal.

What proportion of your membership is actively using webcams for webdating these days?
80% of our users have used videochat. At any given time, there are abut 1000 - 1500 people using webcams at one point or another. Webcams are inexpensive and easy to purchase these days. They usually run about $30.

Webdate is channel agnostic? What's that mean?
Users are able to meet in a variety of ways and methods. They are able to communicate and interact with each other online as well as through their mobile phones. Actually, they are able to interact from their mobile phones with people online as well. So, a user that is on their mobile phone can interact with people online at any given time. We allow users to interact with a variety of different methods and communicate regardless of what type of technology they have whether it be mobile or internet.

What cell phone carriers are you on deck with now?
We use Sprint, Nextel, US Cellular and Boost. We also are about to add Cricket and will launch with a major/top 3 carrier; but I’m not at liberty to announce that just yet.

Do you think mobile dating will overtake online dating one day?
No – I think they will work together. One won’t take over the other. I think there will definitely be more growth in mobile dating than the online stage. The online stage is more of a mature market place. The mobile area is starting to grow and hasn’t met its maturity level. It’s still a virgin market.

What are your estimates for the 2006 mobile dating market size?
It’s such an emerging market place…and it really depends on what deck placement you get and and what kind of compatibility you get with handsets. It’s difficult to estimate the market revenue for 2006; however, in the near future, I feel it will be in the billions of dollars in the mobile Space. Everyone has a mobile phone and not everyone has a computer or internet access. Cell Phone companies are giving out internet ready phones now, so as more people are renewing their contracts and time goes by, everyone is potentially a customer. Online is a different experience; you need a computer, high speed internet access…or dial-up. The cell phone market potentially has far more reach than online does.

What are you plans for webdate in 2006?
We will expand our global and online reach and work on some other projects that I cannot mention at this time.

MDW INTERVIEW -- Mar 15 -- Webdate is blazing a trail with it's webcam based dating and mobile dating platform.  It's taking a futuristic position.  I caught up with Abe Smilowitz, CEO of Webdate...

What is webdating?
Webdating is the new safe and secure way to date where two individuals can go on their first date online using our patented video chat. They have the ability to meet each other and get a feel for each other’s personality and get to know each other a little better before they take it offline.With ‘webdating,’ you get a feel for chemistry and the ability to pinpoint each other’s personality and character; you can see them, see how they smile, see how they move and this gives you insight into what that person is really like as opposed to just reading a typed profile or chat with them on IM which is less personal.

What proportion of your membership is actively using webcams for webdating these days?
80% of our users have used videochat. At any given time, there are abut 1000 - 1500 people using webcams at one point or another. Webcams are inexpensive and easy to purchase these days. They usually run about $30.

Webdate is channel agnostic? What's that mean?
Users are able to meet in a variety of ways and methods. They are able to communicate and interact with each other online as well as through their mobile phones. Actually, they are able to interact from their mobile phones with people online as well. So, a user that is on their mobile phone can interact with people online at any given time. We allow users to interact with a variety of different methods and communicate regardless of what type of technology they have whether it be mobile or internet.

What cell phone carriers are you on deck with now?
We use Sprint, Nextel, US Cellular and Boost. We also are about to add Cricket and will launch with a major/top 3 carrier; but I’m not at liberty to announce that just yet.

Do you think mobile dating will overtake online dating one day?
No – I think they will work together. One won’t take over the other. I think there will definitely be more growth in mobile dating than the online stage. The online stage is more of a mature market place. The mobile area is starting to grow and hasn’t met its maturity level. It’s still a virgin market.

What are your estimates for the 2006 mobile dating market size?
It’s such an emerging market place…and it really depends on what deck placement you get and and what kind of compatibility you get with handsets. It’s difficult to estimate the market revenue for 2006; however, in the near future, I feel it will be in the billions of dollars in the mobile Space. Everyone has a mobile phone and not everyone has a computer or internet access. Cell Phone companies are giving out internet ready phones now, so as more people are renewing their contracts and time goes by, everyone is potentially a customer. Online is a different experience; you need a computer, high speed internet access…or dial-up. The cell phone market potentially has far more reach than online does.

What are you plans for webdate in 2006?
We will expand our global and online reach and work on some other projects that I cannot mention at this time.

Alltel and AirG Launch Coolchat Mobile Community

T-NET BRITISH COLUMBIA -- Mar 8 -- Alltel customers can now chat with cool people from across the US and around the world on their mobile phone. Alltel, a wireless network with 10 million customers in 34 states, and AirG, powering mobile communities, announced today the launch of Coolchat, a wireless social networking community now available on Alltel mobile phones.  RELEASE @ T-NET BRITISH COLUMBIA

Mark Brooks: Mobile dating is hot and is getting hotter.  Webdate is the mobile dating leader with the nicest application I've seen to date.  I'm thinking about starting MobilePersonalsWatch.com to track the news for mobile dating and mobile flirt.

Hitwise Rankings

OPW -- Mar 7 -- TRUE moves up one spot to take 3rd spot from eHarmony.  Plentyoffish moves up two places to 5th  place.  Webdate vaults back onto the top 15 taking 10th spot. 

Must Love Dogs, Buddha, Caves

DENVER POST -- Feb 28 -- "There are certainly more niche sites coming online, because I seem to hear about more wackier new ones every day," says Nate Elliott, an online personals analyst with Jupiter Research. Some offer bells and whistles such as the video chat and mobile dating technology available at webdate.com. Others like adultfriendfinder.com brazenly tackle subjects such as casual sex encounters and fetishes. Everybody has his or her "thing," whether it's a passion for Catholicism, a love of dogs or spelunking. The niche dating concept hinges on the idea that if you find someone with that same thing, you'll be more likely to foster a stronger connection. Cowboydating.com, Geek2Geek, SingleParentsMingle.com, BlackPlanet.com. Datemypet.com receives 50,000 visitors a month. "Niche dating is a solid model right now because [each site] has branding that's appealing," says Mark Brooks, editor of onlinepersonalswatch.com. "But what you give up is more choice available on the larger, general-use sites. You've just gone from a pool of millions with everything under the sun, every age, every demographic to a pool of thousands." Larger general-use sites are updating search engines to allow users to pinpoint must-haves in their profiles. Match, Yahoo Personals and eHarmony together account for more than 50 percent of all online dating traffic.  FULL ARTICLE @ DENVER POST

O2 Partners with Enpocket and Time Out to provide Time Out Dating

NEW MEDIA KNOWLEDGE -- Jan 18 -- The partnership will enable singles to search for dates and chat with other singles using their i-mode phones. The site will offer mobile consumers access to thousands of profiles of like-minded individuals on its i-mode site from £3 per month.

Mark Brooks: Enpocket built Match.com's mobile app.  Match mobile users can search a database of a couple hundred thousand other match mobile users. Match made the decision to spend less on the initial application development which does not allow the Match mobile users access to the millions strong
entire Match.com database of users.  Webdate allows access to the full database.  A distinct advantage

Sprint Launches Three New Mobile Chat Services

BUSINESS WIRE -- Jan 24 -- Sprint announced the availability of Jumbuck Island from Jumbuck Entertainment, The Lounges from AirG, and Webdate Mobile from Trilibis Mobile for Sprint PCS Vision and Sprint Power Vision subscribers. Each service features an exclusive element available only through Sprint.

Mark Brooks: Internet dating takes a sizable time commitment.  Mobile services allow users more convenience and freedom.  Webdate Mobile is the leading mobile dating application allowing users to search a database 5 million strong.  Webdate is 'channel agnostic.' 

Mobile Dating Makes Cell Phone use More Obnoxious

COURIER POST -- Dec 20 -- Technological dating has finally spun out of control and there is now a movement under way -- by both large companies and two-geeks-in-a-basement-start-ups -- to turn our cell phones into matchmakers.  Mobile dating is already more popular than Internet dating in places like Japan. All you need to post a profile and picture on Webdate, the mobile dating leader, is a Web-ready camera phone and $3.99 a month. Then there's Dodgeball, a service where users make a list of "crushes" based on online pictures. Then, when they go out to the bars, they send "check-in" text messages to Dodgeball to find out if a crush has checked in from another bar nearby. If so, the crush instantly receives a picture and profile of the admirer via cell.  Zogo enables users to search through profiles and then speak over the phone through a service that doesn't reveal their numbers.  Bluetooth dating is known as "toothing", "bluejacking" and "snarfing". It enables your phone to detect singles currently in the neighborhood.  SMSGenie is a mobile dating program with no pictures and no profiles, just random texts sent to you from random women and men.  6 million Americans reportedly mobile-date.

Mark Brooks: Location Based Services could lead to a significant paradigm shift in online dating eventually. 

Internet Advertising Growth

MEDIA POST -- Dec 1 -- Revenue from Web ads next year, excluding online newspaper classifieds, will increase by a predicted 25.2%, while overall U.S. ad revenues will grow by 4.5%. The Internet will account for more ad dollars than radio by 2007, and will surpass magazines by 2008, to become the third largest ad category, with newspapers and broadcast television remaining in the top two slots.  MEDIA POST NEWSLETTER

Mark Brooks: Webdate, OKCupid, Plentyoffish, Friendster and Myspace offer advertising.  Who else?

Yahoo, Google to Launch Wireless Services

BIZ REPORT -- Nov 7 -- Yahoo and Google are set to roll out new wireless services to take advantage of advanced networks and cellphones to provide features similar to those available on computers.  Yahoo will introduce a cellphone it will sell through a partnership with SBC Communications to take Yahoo a step closer to linking music, photos and email with consumers' existing online accounts and address books.  RELEASE @ BIZ REPORT

Mark Brooks: Webdate, Match and Lavalife all offer mobile phone based dating.  Webdate offers a more advanced 'downloadable app' and allows users to search their entire database of over 4 million, rather than a limited set of mobile-only users.

How Cellphones May Beat Computers as a Dating Service

WALL STREET JOURNAL -- Nov 3 -- The latest phones can do email, video, music, photo sharing and Web surfing. Though the U.S. was late to the market for sending text messages over in recent years. SMS.ac boasts tens of thousands of communities of users who share interests in topics including sports, music and politics over their cellphone screens. In July, Upoc launched its first dating service. Since then it has attracted about 25,000 subscribers, at $4.99 a week, he says. Match.com has offered such a service on cellphones since February 2003. Zogo expects users to communicate in a novel way: by voice. Users are connected by a phone call. Zogo makes the calls to the two users. No phone numbers are made public, so users can remain anonymous behind their screen names. The Zogo service is free as the company builds up its user community. It eventually will cost $12.99 a month. Setting up a Zogo account and using it on a cellphone was cumbersome.

Mark Brooks: Instant gratification with Zogo's service...once they build a critical mass of users.  Webdate offers mobile dating with access to 4 million profiles.  Nice.

Safety? A Nice Photo? Help's Out There, For a Fee

SUNDAY NEWS -- Oct 23 -- Consultation with online dating adviser: $30. Dating profile makeover: $70. Professional profile photos: $130. Criminal background check: $20. Finding the perfect match: Priceless. As the market for online dating continues to grow, so does the array of related businesses helping online daters find their ideal mate. Most online daters are clueless when it comes to attracting, wooing, and catching that elusive fish in the great big sea of online dating. Being more specific in your profile is simple advice that can make a huge difference, said Mark Brooks, editor of major industry blog Online Personals Watch. Posting a flattering - but accurate - picture is also important, but many online dating subscribers have yet to take advantage of the services. "The users still don't quite get it," Brooks said. "They still don't think they need it." Sites such as LookBetterOnline.com and DatingHeadShots.com will set up users with a professional photographer.  Background checks are becoming a more popular way to screen dates, Brooks said. One dating site is taking the initiative and screening members before they are allowed to join the pool. True.com screens for convicted felons and married people, and requires all members to state that they are neither. Approximately 5% of the site's applicants fail to pass the felony screening and another 4% fail the marriage screening, CEO Herb Vest said. "If you go to any other site my guess would be probably 10-11% of the people on the site will have felony convictions, and I've heard estimates as high as 30% of the people on some sites are married," Vest said. Other services likely to grow over the next few years include "Web dating" - WebDate.com now allows daters to use
webcams for "virtual dates" - and anonymous phone services that allow users to chat without handing over phone numbers. "To be honest, it sounds safer than going into a bar and meeting someone," WebDate founder Abe Smilowitz said. "When you walk into a bar and meet someone, you do that at your own risk." Most of the businesses related to online dating sites have only been operating for a couple of years, but Brooks predicts many of them will continue to profit from the boom of online dating. FULL ARTICLE @ UNION LEADER

Personality Profiling Sites: Who Would You Trust

ONE2ONE MAGAZINE -- Sept 15 -- ARTICLE BY MARK BROOKS, ONLINE PERSONALS WATCH EDITOR/BLOGGER -- Which of these people would you trust with probably the most important decision you’ll ever make?  Dr Warren of eHarmony is a clinical psychologist with a theology background and 30 years of counseling experience. Dr Houran of TRUE is a young clinical psychologist with 15 years counseling experience and many journal papers to his name. Then we have the sociologist Dr Pepper Schwartz of PerfectMatch.

SIMILAR/COMPLEMENTARY: eHarmony matches on similarities whilst PerfectMatch offers you a choice. You can see people who are similar to you, and also people who are complementary to you. TRUE is mainly focused on matching you with people who have complementary traits.

MAGIC BOX: eHarmony does the searching for you.  PerfectMatch and TRUE take alternative approaches. You have more visibility and control over the way you are matched and the speed at which you can get out on a date. PerfectMatch and TRUE also offer instant messaging which eHarmony doesn’t favor. Both TRUE and PerfectMatch are less decisive, and more open box rather than magic box. Dr Pepper Schwartz of PerfectMatch commented, ”I’m a sociologist, not a deity.”

ON CHEMISTRY: Cupid.com CEO, Eric Straus argues that chemistry can only be gauged in the real world, by meeting and getting eyeball to eyeball. “There’s no mathematical formula to love,” affirms Abe Smilowitz, CEO of WebDate.com. “You can’t qualify love by doing a profile analysis. Love is about feelings and a persons emotions.” On the other hand Pat Dines, CEO of Mary.com argues, “chemistry works in unison with long term compatibility. Compatibility tests simply identify who you are compatible to be friends with. You need to meet many ‘compatible’ people to find chemistry.” Dr Glenn Wilson is one of the fathers of compatibility testing and states, “[Compatibility testing] will not tell you whether or not you are going to fall in love with another person in a compulsive, ‘chemical’ way, just whether or not it is a good idea if you do.”

Imagine, you walk into your favorite coffee shop, bar or club and meet someone that you click with. You spend the next six months with them, only to find you’re COMPLETELY incompatible. Would you have had a better time with someone who was a ‘good match.’ How about the perfect match? Relationship based online personals sites hold high promise. They are new. They are still experimenting. Dr Houran confirmed, “we’re in the infancy of compatibility testing.”  FULL ARTICLE @ ONE2ONE MAGAZINE

Mark Brooks: ONE2ONE Living (available on Amazon) is a magazine for the singles lifestyle...'Fuel for the single life: entertainment, travel, culture, events, style, dating.'  I thought Halle Berry's quote in the latest magazine was fascinating.  "I'll never get married again, and I always hate to say never to anything, but I will never marry again... I want love and I'll find it hopefully and have a committed relationship, but no more marriages."  These attitude is fueling the decline in number of people getting married... and the future success and growth of the online personals industry.

Online Personals Watch Exclusive Interview #10 - Webdate's New SVP, Joe Brennan Jr

OPW INTERVIEW -- Aug 2, 2005 -- Joe Brennan Jr joined Webdate's team in April as SVP Marketing and Strategy.  He was formerly the Director of Interactive Strategy at AOL. Mark Brooks, Editor of Online Personals Watch, interviewed Joe after the Mobile Internet Dating Convention at which Joe shared the keynote address.

Why is Webdate driving mobile/cell phone based dating?
Our strategy for Webdate is focused on wireless as a complimentary piece of our entire offerings.  Webdate is not focused on ‘online dating,’ we're focused on ‘dating.’  Our wireless services are every bit as important as the internet services and are totally integrated.  So the philosophy is 'Webdate anytime, anywhere.'  Users may come through the online channel but then decide it's more convenient for them to use us through wireless.  We're connection channel agnostic.  We believe our members should be able to use our services through any connection, so they can Webdate, anytime, anywhere. 

Are location-based services the future?
I think so.  But, one of the challenges is that the technology is available right now but the carriers are concerned about the liability of offering location-based services to their members.  We have to show that such services can produce good revenue streams, address the liability concerns, and demonstrate to the wireless carriers why this technology really is necessary in serving their wireless customers in the future.  The market and technology are moving in the direction of location-based services.  I would not bet against it right now. 

Why are you also leading with video based services? 
We’ve placed our bets on using technology that creates more intimacy for our members.  I mean, with most online dating services you make this hard leap from profile, email and instant messenger over to face-to-face meetings.  We want to create more interactivity and give users a better opportunity to learn and get to know dating partners through the online medium before they meet.  We’re creating interactive experiences that allow potential daters to get to know each other better so that when that first meeting happens, it isn't a shock.  So, the best way to do this is to approximate some of the real world dating experience.  We've started down that path with video dating.  We call it ‘webdating.’  I think that by fully integrating both the online and wireless products we're able to drive a better user experience whilst also reaching underserved markets.  Certain demographics index low on PC ownership and high on cell phone ownership.  By using wireless technology and combining this with our efforts to improve the dating experience, we think our service will be much more valuable than services merely listing personals ads and allowing email introductions. 

Will you eventually combine video based webdating into a mobile/cell phone based service?
Right now the bandwidth is not available on the mobile networks.  The handset technology is not quite available either.  But it will be.  If we look at South Korea with their live streaming video broadcasts we can see the shape of things to come.  That technology will come to America along with the ability to do video dating on the phone.  It’s inevitable and something we are pursuing. 

We need to create more dating opportunities for our users and we have chosen to use technology to create those opportunities…in a real world, live way.  Picture if you will…you’re headed out for the evening and you’re able to broadcast that you are going to be at a certain club, in a certain area and are interested in meeting singles who are also interested in meeting other singles.  We can use the mobile application as a way of facilitating this.  When you walk through the door of the club you will know who you can socialize with and who is available, rather than it being a guessing game.  You can know who's looking for new friends, who’s looking for a relationship.  We want to use mobile applications to facilitate meetings in real time and real space but we need the cooperation of the carriers to facilitate that. 

Hey, Baby, Want a Date?

SAN FRAN CHRONICLE -- July 23 -- With advances in cell phone technology and wireless networks, users can browse truncated profiles, view photos of possible dates and exchange cheesy lines via text messaging. SmallPlanet has come up with a way for its compatible users to be alerted when they are within range of each other, in most cases about 30 feet for now.  Said analyst Brent Iadarola of Frost & Sullivan. "The comfort people have with online dating in the wired world is now translating to the mobile world."  Subscription revenue for mobile services are expected to rise from $31.4 million this year to $215 million by 2009. That does not include revenue from text-messaging charges, which could double those figures, according to Iadarola. "Handset technology has moved in leaps and bounds to the point you can have a good user experience while on the bus or sitting in the back of car," said Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch. "People are gaming and texting now. It all makes sense at last." One promising technology is location-based dating, in which users can be alerted to a potential match just down the street or somewhere in their ZIP code. "I can go to a club, and the phone becomes a transponder," said Joe Brennan Jr., vice president of Webdate, the industry leader with 5 million users. "I can find someone I match up with, and that facilitates a meeting." But there's a hitch. Wireless carriers haven't embraced Webdate technology for now because they are unconvinced of the safety and manageability of the service. Some fear the technology could be manipulated to electronically harass users. FULL ARTICLE @ SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

How Cell Phone Dating Could Lead to a Ring

CBS CHANNEL 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS -- Joe Brennan Jr, Sr VP Marketing and Strategy for Webdate, and myself, Mark Brooks, Editor of Online Personals Watch appeared in this news piece at the Mobile Internet Dating Convention last Thursday.  NEWS VIDEO