Finding a date on the go has just gotten a little bit easier, thanks to new iPhone applications from Match.com and dating app developer Snap Interactive.
The new iPhone apps are being used to promote Match.com’s online dating services and Snap Interactive’s new Facebook dating app. The apps let consumers connect directly from their mobile phones. According to a report by Jupiter Research, the mobile dating and chatroom market is projected to grow to as much as $1.4 billion by 2013.
“We really believe that online dating and how it is done is changing a little. It is occurring on the social networks, and we believe that online dating is now going mobile,” said Clifford Lerner, president/CEO of Snap, a New York-based company which specializes in online dating applications for social networking Web sites. “We are a big believer in the growth of the iPhone, and we think that it has great potential for the mobile phone. Right now, when people want to do online dating, they have to be in front of a computer, but now they can do it directly on the iPhone.”
The Snap mobile app is an extension of Snap’s Facebook Platform dating app, “Are You Interested?” This application, which currently has more than 13 million users, lets users find dates through the social networking site.
The new iPhone application will let users browse photos of other single people in their geographic area and tap “Yes” on people they like. The app then matches up votes and lets people find out who likes them.
The demographic for the application is people in their early 20s, and those who have grown up on the social networks and mobile devices, Lerner said.
The app also lets users connect with each other through “winks” and text messages, as well as through the “Buzz” section where they can find other single people who are online that minute.
