Category: Outlets – Reuters

Jajah And Jangl Partnership

Posted on November 15, 2007

Jangljajah_2REUTERS — Nov 15 — Jajah and Jangl have formed a partnership. Both companies provide alternative Internet based alternatives to traditional phone calls. They also offer calling services for social networking sites that allow users to call each other without revealing their mobile or home phone numbers. Jajah's strength is discount long-distance. Jangl has focused on offering phone services through Match.com, Facebook, and FriendFinder. The partnership would help them gain a competitive edge against rivals such as Jaxtr, said Michael Cerda, CEO of Jangl. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS

Mark Brooks: A potent combination. Anonymous calling + click-to-call with cheap long distance.

Meetic Gets AOL Distribution Deal

Posted on October 30, 2007

Meetic_logoREUTERS — Oct 29 — Meetic has signed a distribution agreement with AOL to become the exclusive dating channel on several European portals of Time Warner Inc’s Internet division. The agreement extends a similar partnership signed in February between Meetic and AOL France. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS

Mark Brooks: A great vote of confidence for Meetic. MSN next?

Find Your True Love Through A Bad Date

Posted on September 27, 2007

Badonlinedates_logoREUTERS UK — Sep 26 — BadOnlineDates, set to launch next month, hopes to connect members via negative dating stories. The site, “a combination of MySpace and Match.com”, will allow users to enter the standard dating data, as well as photo albums, blogs, and nightmare date stories. Keyword matching finds similar themes in the members' profiles and bad date experiences to make a match. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS UK

German Politician Advocates Seven-Year Marriages

Posted on September 24, 2007

GabrielepauliREUTERS — Sep 21 — Gabriele Pauli, one of the politicians running for the leadership of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU), has shocked the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should last just 7 years. After 7 years, the party rebel who stands almost no chance of winning next week argued that marriages be mutually extended or automatically dissolved.

Nokia Betting On Mobile Social Communities

Posted on September 6, 2007

Nokia_logoREUTERS — Sep 5 — Juniper Research expects annual revenues from wireless social networking to increase from $260 million to $3.9 billion by 2012. Top cellphone maker Nokia is betting on that. In July, the company bought Twango – a service that allows users to share photos, videos, and audio files – and now plans to build this social networking technology into the underlying layer of its S60 software.

Mark Brooks: As carriers suffer from commoditization, the phone and software companies will be in stronger positions. Apple (iphone), RIM (blackberry) and Nokia (N95), etc, need to strengthen their mobile SNS and dating, along with gaming and content (music and videos) offerings and build new revenue streams that the carriers can take a cut of. A small cut preferably, but that depends on just how fast the phone and software companies move.

Match.com Expands Mobile Online Dating Service

Posted on July 31, 2007

MatchlogoREUTERS — July 30 — Online dating service Match.com is launching a new application for cell phones. MatchMobile will first be made available in the United States, UK and Canadian markets, with plans to extend the service to nine more countries by the end of the year. For an extra fee of about $5 per month, MatchMobile subscribers can receive and answer e-mails from suitors on their mobile phones.

eHarmony Accused of Excluding Gays

Posted on June 1, 2007

Eharmony_6REUTERS — June 1 — eHarmony (founded 2000, 12m users) was sued yesterday for refusing to offer its services to gays, lesbians and bisexuals. A lawsuit alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Linda Carlson, who was denied access to eHarmony because she is gay. Lawyers bringing the action said they believed it was the first lawsuit of its kind against eHarmony, which has long rankled the gay community with its failure to offer a "men seeking men" or "women seeking women" option. They were seeking to make it a class action lawsuit on behalf of gays and lesbians denied access to the dating service.

The full article was originally published at Gulf Times, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Match.com's ad program for Chemistry.com sure sparked a fire. I wonder how far it will burn. Patrick is welcoming eHarmony gay member-denials with open arms at myPartnerPerfect.com.

Muslim, Traditional, but Finding Love on the Web

Posted on May 1, 2007

SinglemuslimREUTERS — May 1 — Over the past two years there has been a boom in the use of Web sites that introduce Muslim men and women for marriage. Singlemuslim.com , which calls itself Britain's largest Muslim introductions agency, has seen registered users double over the past year to 100,000 and is opening sites in the U.S., Canada and Australia. On some sites, more than half the registered users are professional women with above-average incomes who use the service to save time and broaden the scope of their search. They are direct and demanding about what they are looking for. Shaadi.com, 'the world's largest matrimonial service,' has 10 million users, most in South Asia — in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In Britain, 700,000 are registered, 40% average annual income of 40,000 pounds.

The full article was originally published at NY Times, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: BharatMatrimony.com is Shaadi's leading competitor, and WorldSingles.com runs a number of niche dating sites focused on Muslims.

Muslim, Traditional, but Finding Love on the Web

Posted on May 1, 2007

SinglemuslimREUTERS — May 1 — Over the past two years there has been a boom in the use of Web sites that introduce Muslim men and women for marriage. Singlemuslim.com , which calls itself Britain's largest Muslim introductions agency, has seen registered users double over the past year to 100,000 and is opening sites in the U.S., Canada and Australia. On some sites, more than half the registered users are professional women with above-average incomes who use the service to save time and broaden the scope of their search. They are direct and demanding about what they are looking for. Shaadi.com, 'the world's largest matrimonial service,' has 10 million users, most in South Asia — in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In Britain, 700,000 are registered, 40% average annual income of 40,000 pounds.

The full article was originally published at NY Times, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: BharatMatrimony.com is Shaadi's leading competitor, and WorldSingles.com runs a number of niche dating sites focused on Muslims.

Viacom Sues YouTube/Google for $1 Billion

Posted on March 13, 2007

Logo_youtubeREUTERS — Mar 13 — Viacom sued Google/YouTube for $1 billion on Tuesday for ‘massive intentional copyright infringement.’ NBC Universal and News Corp. have also criticized YouTube’s copyright protection policies but stopped short of legal action. Viacom is seeking an injunction against further violations as well as damages. Google said it was confident that YouTube respects the copyrights at issue in the Viacom case.  The decision to sue Google followed "a great deal of unproductive negotiation," Viacom said. Viacom and peers like NBC Universal are also investing heavily in their own Internet video sites.

Mark Brooks: Can someone peel the blinkers off Google‘s eyes. How is YouTube that different from Napster?  YouTube’s best bet for survival is to be proactive in preventing copyrighted material from being uploaded.