THE PARADIGM SHIFT — Sep 28 — At the European iDate lots of companies where trying to sell mobile dating, but every owner I talked to said they thought mobile dating was a joke and would never amount to much. The basic problem is that there is no such thing as mobile dating. Sure you can put up profiles and make it look like a dating site but no one actually uses it. People who use "mobile dating" are mostly under the age of 24 and are looking to chat with others. Mobile dating as it stands today is nothing more then a chat line, and most of the mobile "dating" users don’t even have computers. Online daters are age 30 to 40 and looking for longer messages and serious conversations. Mobile daters are mostly looking to kill time and to chat for entertainment. When trying to create a mobile dating site your existing brand is meaningless, the only thing that matters is being on deck at a carrier as it is the only way to get users. It is strange that all these mobile companies are pitching mobile dating as an extension of online dating. They all know full well and admit in private that "mobile dating" and online dating are completely different markets with different demographics that don’t overlap. FULL ARTICLE @ THE PARADIGM SHIFT
Mark Brooks: Markus cuts to the chase once more. That’s the situation right now. The moneymakers are flirty chat applications, but that’s because the mobile dating apps suck and are below critical mass. But, it’s going to change. Mobile dating will eventually overtake internet dating. Why? Because mobile computing will eventually overtake fixed computer (PC/laptop) usage. Laptops will morph into palmtops and be unified with cell phones and mp3 players (time to invest in Apple 😉 ). I’m talking ten years out, but I see this as inevitable. Keyboardless voice activated sexy (a la Apple) palmtops will make mobile computing more compelling. Location based services and video dating will make mobile dating more compelling. A couple of mobile enabler services are working on video dating right now. Your comments please.
I fully agree Mark. The problem is the state of applications, not the concept.
When mobile dating eventually means the automated notification of someone compatible nearby (via GPS/triangulation/wi-fi location detection) then consumers will see the value.
Right now, mobile dating is sadly only a dumbed down version of their full-screen Internet counterparts. (Preferably automated) LBS functionality is the missing piece of the puzzle. Users (myself included) don’t want to flirt via text messaging, we want to know if someone in the area is compatible, see some profile data, and make an informed decision to walk up and introduce ourselves.
Agreed. I remember 8 years ago discussuing in an engineering class that people would start downloading music and burning CDs, rather than buying from a record store. I said – “it will never happen!”. I was looking at the state of the Internet – the slowness of internet connections and the complexities of burning CDs. I was looking at the state of technology, not the concept … and look how that one turned out! I won’t make that mistake again 🙂
Seems dating on the mobile is about having fun (easy to use and provide instant gratification!, more suitable for persons not older than 24) rather than developing long term relationships.
As actual daters grow up, they will be more aware/conscious of loosing precious time, so I think they will fly to quality online dating sites, looking for quality contacts (compatible real persons), like “here you have a list of 48 persons most compatible in a 10 million database’s prospects; for dating or social networking”
Kindest Regards,
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
ardenghifer@gmail.com
Yes, instant gratification is king, but I think you’re equating instant gratification with low quality, fly-by-night-one-night-stands that a younger person wants.
Ultimately, mobile dating will be a component of mobile socializing (a feature functionality rather than the main purpose.) The high quality match algorithms that an eHarmony, or Chemistry.com can provide will be most neccesary. -If Myspace has 100M users now and there are sites such as Peopleaggregator that will eventually congregate multiple Myspaces (databases converging) into a centralized database, then mobile dating will have to dig deep for true compatibility matching. “Everyone” will have an online identity, it will be mostly centralized, so matches will have to be significantly higher quality – using empirical data – or really long lists of profile/mundane data.
The early dating sites had the luxury of not digging deep for compatibility because there simply weren’t that many people in the same area to choose from – with common membership to that site.
If the trend of online identity increases, matching will have to be increasingly precise. If 80%+ of Americans over 13 will have broadband enabled cell phones in 5 years, you can bet a great portion of those will have a mobile blog (identity) that will alert them when thier friends are also in the mall or bar or concert with them…if their uncle is there, if a business owner requiring your skills is there. Etc.
Location based services will change the way we live…when “the internet” knows where you are, your life is easier. Advertising may be targeted well enough that it is seen as a service to a consumer rather than a nuisance…after all if you’re “bugged” with a discount on what you really want, how is that a bad thing?
These concierge-like services (future realities) far outweight the privacy fears they portend. Besides, hasn’t Bush/Clinton shown us from the patriot act that the only Big Brother to fear is them and they can know everything they want to know anyway?
These are just a few reasons why >24 year olds won’t be the only users of what will come to be.
Ben, Great comments. If you consider palmtops plus online identities, you get location-based services.
Marcus/Mark still make great points about the decline of the PC. The home PC will simply morph into the “waystation” where your fingerprint brings up your personal display screen no matter what computer you are on in the entire planet.
That means that your “blogs” and “dating profile” pages will simply because an extension of your universal “myspace” pc login which includes both your public identity and your private identity with personal applications, notes, etc.
I think mobile dating chats will not last, but mobile dating notifications will continue to grow. It will all grow into the location-based internet socializing that Mark mentioned.
The best application is to get a txt msg telling me that I’ve been within 100 feet of one of my “internet love interests” for the last 20 minutes, and then it shows me their picture… and maybe an arrow pointing to where they are standing.
Everywhere location based services have been tested women totally freak out. Can you imagine being in a bar and 10 men come up to you because of your cell?
Right now Mobile dating and online dating are 2 completely different demographics. When phones get better will the online dating demographic move to mobile and kick out the chat demographic? Will mobile internet disapear and we will just use the regular internet we have now? ie no more sites designed for just mobile?
True mobile dating isn’t going anywhere fast, and mobile chat maybe but not dating.
True – women would freak out, but – what if guys could know ahead of time, via the mobile UI, that the woman didnt want to be approached in public. (think permission flirting). No more annoying pick-up lines, no more bruised egos.
At ChristianSinglesDating.com, members can log in using their PalmPilots or other WAP device and we display a cut down version of our site to them. Much less text on the screen.
I track how many members use our site in this manner, and there are roughly only two people per day that actually call in with a WAP device. I’m still going to continue enhancing the WAP version of the site, but at this point, I don’t see it being used.
God bless,
Nannette Thacker
http://www.ChristianSinglesDating.com