Mobile dating is the next big leap in online socialising, as it allows people to flirt in all the right (and wrong) places.
Internet chatrooms, e-mail and instant messaging have been a hit with those looking for love. Now, with more people buying 3G phones, mobile dating is the next big leap in online socialising, as it allows people to flirt in all the right (and wrong) places.
New cellphones have cameras, broadband wireless connections and clear colour displays that allow users to send and receive photos and instant messages to scrutinise prospective partners.
According to Daniel Cimring, the chief executive of Black Hat Media, cellphones are a successful and safe way to meet people. More South Africans have cellphones than access to computers and the Internet.
Black Hat Media runs the dating services Party SMS, Cute SMS, SMS Date, Flirt SMS and Date Club. The latter charges its subscribers R7 a week.
In addition, the network operators charge for Wireless Application Protocol usage, which costs about R2 a megabyte. A megabyte is about one million characters.
Other services in the Black Hat stable are casual SMS-based flirting and dating services. Each SMS costs R2.
To monitor those who access its services and to protect children from potential paedophiles, Cimring said a valid South African identity number had to be provided.
If they discovered that a person was using someone else’s identity, Cimring said they would bar that particular identity number from registering.
He said that just as online dating and match making had gained favour with Internet-savvy singles, mobile dating was catching on as more people became dependent on cellphones.
Although cellphones are still a step behind computers in terms of ease of use, their portability opens up a world of new opportunities. Cimring said his company was taking advantage of people’s “playful attitude” towards their cellphones.
He said users could browse truncated profiles, view photos of possible dates and chat via instant messaging from virtually anywhere.
“With Date Club, you simply register a profile with one of our services mentioning what you are looking for, which is the only information that will be shared with the public.
“Your cell number and real name are kept private. After registering, a subscriber can browse through the available profiles, searching for a match. You can communicate anonymously and exchange personal details as and when you get comfortable with each other,” he said.