A Look Into Mobile Dating
by Darla Mack
Its weird to see just how far we’ve come when it comes to Mobile evolution, but mobile dating? I remember a few years back Match.com went mobile through Cingular and Sprint.
According to a report from Juniper Research, hich was released in September, revenues from mobile dating and chatroom services are expected to pass $1 billion US by 2010.
“Major brands such as Match.com and Webdate have recognized that customers are willing to pay a mobility premium for 24/7 access to these services and are increasing deploying mobile applications to complement and enhance their existing offerings. The increasing proliferation of 3G handsets and a mean that companies are increasing confident of introducing converged services at the outset. Furthermore, those companies which embrace such a strategy - such as Flirtomatic - are experiencing significantly higher levels of traffic from their WAP users than from their users on the fixed internet.” by report author Dr. Windsor Holden
With all this being said I wonder… is Mobile Dating really going to be the new thing?
Other findings from the report include:
* At the present time, the largest mobile dating markets by user numbers are Japan and India.
* The low level of fixed penetration in India, and the increasing tendency in the country to use mobile services directly as an aide not merely for dating, but for marriage, suggests that overall penetration here will be significantly higher than elsewhere in the world
* Many customers will use mobile dating as an adjunct to, rather than instead of, their fixed internet dating services
I have to be skeptical on this because I fancy the traditional method, then again my methods of traditional might not be the same as others. But there are certain issues involved that go a bit beyond just increasing data charges. What about safety and security? Inviting someone into your life via your mobile doesn’t quite seem traditional to me.
