Looks like match.com is taking on lavalifes cash cow. Match.com just announced they are going to go into anonymous voice chat. Sounds like a clone of the deal lavalife made with skype, and also their ”Lavalife Lounge” or whatever they are calling their IVR system these days. Lavalife makes over 70 million a year off its voice system and there are several other major telephone dating services out there doing huge numbers.
The matchTalk system assigns the couple a unique number that they can use to talk to each other without fear of giving away their real telephone number or other personal details. People with caller ID will see the matchTalk number instead of their actual listing.
Safka described the technology — an industry first — as an important step in the development of Internet-based matchmaking services.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8L3TFF00.html
November 1, 2006 at 3:48 pm |
If Lavalife makes over 70 million a year from just off of its voice system, it can’t be doing that bad.
November 1, 2006 at 5:53 pm |
Gomer, its been doing that since the 80’s but the revenues are now flat with no growth prospects. Although lavalife is now looking for growth in the mobile space via ringtones and the like.
November 1, 2006 at 9:28 pm |
I am really surprised at the success of phone dating. Call me crazy, but I think it’s a little weired to just ring a stranger. I prefer to get to know someone via email, or IM, and then I can call them when I want. I guess the main benefit is the anonymity, but you could easily use Skype for that… unimpressive in my view.
November 1, 2006 at 11:57 pm |
Wow, that is big money for a site that is smaller than yours. It might be tempting to add that on as a ‘paid’ feature at POF but then you could no longer say “100% free, put away your credit card”.
November 2, 2006 at 5:23 pm |
This is a very smart move by match – especially if that’s the sort of money thats being made for voice calls by lavalife.
From a daters perspective, talking in person is just a smart move, before you arrange to meet in person. So the sites that can help facilitate this should do well.
November 9, 2006 at 11:11 pm |
That new MatchTalk feature is powered by Jangl, just FYI. We’re bringing a direct-to-consumer service online in the next few days. Match.com is the first of several partners we hope to work with across the social networking space, so kudos to Match for “seeing it.” More to come. If you want more information, holler anytime.
November 9, 2006 at 11:19 pm |
Oh, two more things (for Andy): The point here is that a phone chat (especially one that is anonymous) is an interim step that happens between email/IM and handing out your personal information to a total stranger. Second, this isn’t a “Skype” thing. . .Jangl (and MatchTalk) connect to your *real* phone.
November 25, 2006 at 5:08 pm |
[...] Ok, now maybe you want to know what matchTalk is? MatchTalk is a service that brings Match.com to your phone, wherever you are. Last night’s press release was totally botched. MatchTalk was being called a central conference call, which I would imagine most people would think of as group voice chat. Markus likens this to Lavalife, which has made a killing in the group chat market for many years. [...]