Location

Here are two interesting points from an article called "Dates with destiny", which is hosted on easyJet Inflight.

• Match.com launched their United Kingdom dating site in 2001, interesting enough Marc Simoncini, the founder of Meetic (which is set to purchase Match.com's European Operations) was also launched in 2001.
• In 2004 as online dating became more popular, Match.com became the first dating site to run TV commercials.

For more information on Match.com's British dating site, read our review.

On January 29, 2009 Date.com become free for the estimated 15 million online dating users in India. This means any local Hindu single may use the service just like a paid member, allowing them to save their Rupee's for an actual date.

Date.com has been planning to expand into non-English speaking markets for a while now. It looks like they want to get a foot in the door in India by offering a free service, were online matrimonial sites are very popular. Date.com is currently available in 4 languages but by 2010 they plan on adding 15 more (see Story).

Read more about this free service for Indian singles at Date.com by reading this press release, or check out our Date.com review for more information on this popular online dating site.

According to NewMediaAge, eHarmony is going to be doing a big marketing campaign in the United Kingdom. This is the first major marketing campaign for the UK version of the dating site, which launched last July (see story). For the first month or so eHarmony UK was offering free 90 day memberships to help populate their database with profiles. The digital marketing agency which eHarmony hired called Essence, will soon be launching a display, search and affiliate campaign. NewMediaAge also estimates eHarmony's US marketing budget at $160 million.

To find out more information about this popular dating service, read our eHarmony review.

Between December 1, 2008 and January 5, 2009 a total of 1,629 online dating sites registered with Japans local public security boards. This is in response to a stricter law which regulates dating sites in Japan. The National Police Agency (NPA) said there was 432 applications filed for the dating sites which was a lot less than expected. It is assumed some dating services shut down due to the law being implemented. The largest application had 286 dating sites listed on it.

The last time we talked about dating regulations in Japan was last January when we wrote about Japans NPA wants Stricter Regulations for Dating Sites. It looks like the NPA got their wish.

For more information on this story visit JapanToday.

There is a promising future for mobile dating as predicted by Juniper Research. They claim the value of the chatroom market and mobile dating will grow to almost $1.4 billion by 2013. For the most part revenue will be generated by subscriptions but event-based charging (like paying a fee to contact someone or virtual gifts) and advertising will continue to become a larger part of the revenue stream.

... many companies which have migrated to this approach are seeing conversion rates amongst customers buying premium rate goods and services which generate revenues significantly in excess of those achieved under flat rate subscriptions.

By 2011 it is predicted less than 30 percent of mobile dating customers will be on a flat rate subscription model. China and Japan currently have the largest number of mobile dating customers.

There is no mention what the 2008 revenue is for this market. Currently from our reviewed online dating services, Match.com (called matchMobile), Date.com, Lavalife, DatingDirect and Shaadi.com all offer a mobile phone service along with their dating website. Other sites like MeetMoi also offer location based mobile dating based on the GPS in your phone (with lots of privacy options of course). With the rise of 3G and the large bandwidth it provides I expect to see the rise of video mobile dating as well.

For reviews on dating services that offer a mobile/cell phone dating service check out our new Mobile Dating Category.

On Wednesday January 7th Lavalife announced their search for Canada's 10 most eligible singles. This is the third year in a row for the event.

All singles have to do is sign up for free to become a member of Lavalife.com, have a great photo and a creative and engaging "In My Own Words" profile. The deadline to enter is Tuesday, February 3, 2009.

On February 18, the judges will announce 30 semi-finalists. At this point the public can visit Lavalife and vote for Lavalife's 2009 Top 10 finalists. On March 11th Lavalife will announce the 10 winners.

The winners will receive a 3 day trip to Toronto and tickets to Lavalife's Red Hot Affair. The grand prize is $10,000 and the runner up will receive a all-inclusive trip for two to Negril, Jamaica, courtesy of Bel Air Travel.

For the full press release, read it at Newswire. For more information on this online dating site, read our Lavalife review.