PRWEB - Feb 9 - SinglesAroundMe, the location based dating app, is launching byChance and MingleRoom. byChance shows a list of singles that users crossed paths with throughout their day. MingleRoom is a place where the most active singles can meet, where engaging conversations can occur.
19 posts categorized "SinglesAroundMe"
SinglesAroundMe Launches Two New Features
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SinglesAroundMe To Introduce Freemium Model
SAM - Feb 4 - SinglesAroundMe, the last free dating app, will soon introduce freemium model around enhanced services. “Since our initial launch in 2010 our focus has been on user adoption and market penetration. Now that we have a strong global user base, users will be asked to pay for some enhanced services,” said Christopher Klotz, CEO of SinglesAroundMe.
See full article at SAM website
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Canada Rewards SinglesAroundMe With Tax Incentives For Its Innovation
SINGLESAROUNDME - June 13 - Government of Canada rewards social discovery app, SinglesAroundMe, with tax incentives for their invention - Position-Shift™ - that allows users to shift their GPS location on a smartphone for the sake of location security and privacy.
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SinglesAroundMe Is Now #1 Android Dating App
PR WEB - Mar 20 - Social discovery app, SinglesAroundMe, has risen steadily over the past year to become the #1 dating app for Android users in Google Play under “dating”.
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SinglesAroundMe Introduces Shifting GPS Patent
PRESS RELEASE - Jan 8 - SinglesAroundMe, a social discovery mobile dating app, revealed it’s patent pending Position-Shift invention which allows mobile users to choose who knows where they are and when. SinglesAroundMe launched in 2010 and has 2M users in 100 countries.
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Indians Hit Mobile Apps To Find Love
TIMES OF INDIA - Sep 15 - Grindr has ~11K monthly users in India. "In conservative regions where being gay may be taboo, Grindr allows for connections that wouldn't happen face-to-face so it's not surprising that it is popular in India," says a Grindr spokesperson. SinglesAroundMe claims they have 66K Indian subscribers. "India is third after the US and UK and represents only 5% of our user base presently, but the number is growing very quickly," says CEO Christopher Klotz. Thrill is another app that is getting popular in India. Thrill's 'he applies she decides' approach enables women to choose the men they want in. Thrill won't be enabling their locator technology at the moment.
by Sonal Nerurkar
See full article at Times if India
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Love In The Time Of GPS
CHICAGO TRIBUNE - Feb 27 - 25.3M people accessed personals sites through mobile devices in Dec, versus 21.3M through a fixed computer, according to comScore. Location-based dating apps have been wildly successful in the gay community (Grindr - 4M users) but slower to catch on among heterosexual daters, likely because women are more wary of announcing their location. SinglesAroundMe, which features a map with drop pins showing where nearby singles are, recently launched an "approximate location" option that lets users displace their coordinates by 1 to 2 miles. Tinder scours a user's Facebook connections to see which friends of friends are single and nearby. MeetMoi sends members a push notification if a match is in the vicinity, getting no more exact than "within .2 miles," and only if both parties agree to chat does the app allow a connection. The app has 3.7M users. Of the 4M active users on OkCupid, half of whom access the site through their mobile phones, 1M have the Locals app. OkCupid also recently launched the mobile app Crazy Blind Date, which sets up a blind date — no photos, no profiles. As with online dating, mobile dating started off catering to people looking for casual relationships, but as it becomes mainstream more serious relationship-seekers are using it as well, said Mark Brooks, an analyst and consultant to the Internet dating industry. "It's more natural, you're out and about," said Brooks, who predicts that dating via mobile phone will change the game profoundly because apps can gather instantaneous feedback about how a date went, resulting in better matches. "People don't really know what they want, so the best way to match people is to look at their behaviors," Brooks said. "Your phone is going to get to know you, it is going to get to know your buying behavior."
by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
See full article at Chicago Tribune
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SinglesAroundMe Sees 300% Download Increase
TECHVIBES - Feb 13 - SinglesAroundMe was reporting a 300% surge in daily downloads across Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone app stores ahead of Valentine's Day. The company says that, unlike other location-based mobile dating apps, SAM utilizes geographical mapping to plot the location of nearby singles who could even be next door. Launched in 2010, SinglesAroundMe has ~1M users in 100 countries.
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GPS Dating Apps Raise Prospects, Security Concerns
CBS NEW YORK - Feb 11 - GPS technology is the latest trend in match-making. But it’s raising questions about safety. Singles are attracted to it because it happens more quickly, and it eliminates days of back and forth emailing and planning. “Instead of hiding behind a computer screen,” said Chris Klotz, CEO of Singles Around Me, one of the GPS dating services. “We’re trying to bring real life back into dating.” “One of the biggest problems with GPS dating is the immediacy of it,” said security specialist Alan Rosenthal. “You have no time to vet them or even to think about what your actions, your interactions or the ramifications are going to be.” Each GPS service offers privacy options and others, such as HowAboutWe, won’t reveal your exact location.
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'Singles Around Me' Finds Singles Nearby
FSUNEWS - Feb 4 - Singles Around Me (SAM) is a social discovery mobile dating app that offers singles the opportunity to meet, chat, flirt and date other singles in their immediate vicinity,” CEO and creator Christopher Klotz said. “It uses geographical mapping to plot the users’ location and the location of other singles, while offering total control over privacy.” SAM claims ~1M subscribers. “Our target audience actually spans across the spectrum from college students upward,” said Klotz.
by Samantha DiDio
The full article was originally published at FSUNews, but is no longer available.
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GPS Apps Being Used By Singles To Find Dates
NEWS4JAX - Nov 20 - "Singles Around Me" says ~20K singles are installing the app each week. "OKCupid" says one million of its 3M users use the GPS features. And "How About We" estimates that about one in four of its online daters are now incorporating location-based dating into their search for a soul mate. "One of the biggest problems with GPS dating is the immediacy of it," said Alan Rosenthal, author of the book "Safer Online Dating." In regular online dating, you have time to exchange emails or talk on the phone before you actually meet. But with GPS, he says you could be face to face in minutes.
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GPS Dating Is Getting More Popular
ABC LOCAL - Oct 5 - Finding love the smartphone way is a trend that is definitely taking off. SinglesAroundMe says ~20K singles install the app each week. OkCupid reports 1M of its 3M users utilize the GPS feature. And HowAboutWe estimates that 1 in 4 of its online daters are now incorporating location based dating into their search for a soul mate. One of the biggest problems with GPS dating is the immediacy of it. MeetMoi, which sends profiles of people in your general location, says they never share a user's exact location. SinglesAroundMe has privacy options that allow users to turn off their location GPS or to hide their profile.
by Leslie Sykes
See full article at ABC Local
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Interview With Chris Klotz, CEO Of SinglesAroundMe
OPW - Aug 7 - SinglesAroundMe is one of the first great mobile dating brands. Find out about SinglesAroundMe new developments, thoughts on outsourcing, and marketing advice. - Mark Brooks
What's your founding story?
SinglesAroundMe started in 2009. Before that I was running an Internet job board in Canada called JobShark which I sold to one of the biggest IT job boards in UK, called JobServe. Online dating has always been one of the successful fields within the Internet. When smart phones came around, with the capability to do geo-location, I thought there might be a niche that I could jump into. Clearly, you don't want to play in a game that everybody else is playing in because you'll never catch up. That's how we started and where the premise came from.
How much was first mover an advantage for you?
I think that was clearly important from the very beginning. To be out there, to be first.
Might I ask how many users you have?
We are approaching about 80,000 new downloads a month at the moment.
How many of those are still active three months later?
It's not so easy for us to monitor that so I don't have accurate information but we know it's a fun tool that users tend to keep on their mobile phone.
Tell us more about the user experience.
As soon as you download the app, it will plot you anywhere in the world, and from there it will show you singles within 100 feet to 100 miles or 100 kilometers of you. When we first started, you'd open it up in London and there'd be nobody. A couple months later, there'd be two or three. Now, if you open it up in London, there's thousands and thousands using it. You can get that feeling in almost any city around the world right now.
What's the demographics of your user base?
It stretches right up through every decade. The 20's, 30's, we even have a senior citizens' plan.
What's the fastest growing demographic?
30's and 40's. But newer versions are soon coming out which we call it our Mars upgrade. That should be really targeted to a younger audience.
So you're very geo-centric. What other features are very essential to the app for you?
There's two core features to the app - SinglesAroundMe and Destination Search. The SinglesAroundMe aspect plots you and everyone from 1 kilometer to 100 kilometers. If you want to go to a certain bar, The Destination Search Tool will show you the singles in that bar.
How do people make the first communication?
The actual connections are very typical of traditional dating, so winks and messages.
You could actually do a VOIP call within the app. What's your thoughts?
I think these tools are very exciting to have; voice and even video. I think we're moving that way with the smart phone capabilities. We tried that a bit too early and nobody really had the technology to run videos.
What technologies did you build SinglesAroundMe on?
We've built a native iPhone, a native Android, and a native Blackberry. The next version of our Mars upgrade will be native in everything.
Do you think there will be a day when HTML5 will be able to deliver the kind of functionality that you need?
Yeah, I hope so.
Is the iPad on your roadmap?
Yes, we are releasing iPad app very soon.
Let's talk about your team. Did you go in-house or did you use a third party provider? Somebody abroad, perhaps?
We're probably 70% in-house now and 30% out of house.
What are the pros and cons of each?
One thing is control. If you go out of house, you lose a bit of control. In-house you can go over things. At the end of the day, if you're going to be serious in this business, and you're going to be here long term, you have to be in-house.
Are the out of house folks abroad?
No, they are just a couple of miles away. You can easily pick up developers all around the world, but I think you need to be very close to these guys so you can just drive down the street and have a quick meeting with them and go over things.
Imagine you've got a friend who's building a mobile dating app, how much is it going to cost him?
I think you could get in the game for $50,000, but when you're downstream, you realize, no. You're in there for a lot more than just that initial start-up cost. You've got costs associated with each different platform that you're building out. And these things double or triple.
What do you think is the best way to grow to a beginning level of critical mass?
I may be the wrong guy to ask that. We're early. We got our mass organically. We've been lucky from that standpoint. You had to be a lot smarter than just throwing money at the traditional media route.
So you're not advertising?
No, we don't advertise. We just work our channels with the secrets we know how to do.
So you're generally discovered on the platform, on Apple's platform then?
We are. But it's what happens when you're an early leader and you're changing, and you're disrupting. People want to talk to you.
Are you out reaching to the media or are they just calling in?
I'd say it's about 90/10. 90% are calling in. We're doing the traditional things like press releases.
What other social media channels are you actively managing?
Twitter and Facebook.
How do you make money?
SinglesAroundMe has got in-app capabilities on different platforms. We're experimenting on different platforms. On some platforms, we're completely free. On other platforms, we're experimenting with an in-app capability.
How do you feel about paying Apple 30%? Do they really earn it?
Well, they created this industry, so it's hard to argue against that. I'm happy to pay them 30%. We wouldn't be in the business if they weren't around.
What's your vision for SinglesAroundMe for a year's time?
I think we're going to be really gaining a lot of traffic hopefully from the younger generation. People in their twenties. As we do the Mars software release and improve our platform.
Who are your competitors and who are the people you are concerned about, inspired by?
Skout, I think is doing very well. They're one of the guys we look at.
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Can GPS Find You A Mate?
BOSTON GLOBE - Aug 5 - OkCupid Locals is meant to follow you wherever you go and find you matches along the way. “Mobile dating has created a new promise, an enticing one,” says Aaron Schildkrout, co-founder HowAboutWe. “When you see these people on your phone, you think, ‘This person is real, they’re near me, and I may actually be able to encounter them in the real world". Grindr was the first app of its kind to get traction. By March 2012, Grindr had 4M users in 192 countries. MeetMoi, which came online as an iPhone and Android app in 2010, alerts users when another MeetMoi user is nearby. SinglesAroundMe, also released in 2010, features a singles-locator map of sorts. OkCupid launched its Locals app in 2011. Sam Yagan, founder of OkCupid, says two-thirds of its mobile users activate the GPS-positioning info. Mark Brooks, a consultant to Internet dating sites, points out that men tend to use location-based dating features more than women, and that location-based dating apps are most often used by singles in big cities. What’s more, the singles that use them are using them all the time. “People don’t view as many pages on their mobile dating apps as they do when they’re looking at profiles at home, but they’re logging in as many as eight times a day,” says Brooks. Mark Brooks jokes that one reason location-based dating hasn’t yet gone mainstream is that there are too many men running the sites. Match is the only major dating site run by a woman, and its CEO, Mandy Ginsberg, has said the company won’t rely on location-based tools. Robinne Burrell, the company’s director of mobile product and distribution, says its experts don’t believe the location-based approach puts singles on the path to long-term relationships.
by Brooke Lea Foster
See full article at Boston.com
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SinglesAroundMe: Heterosexual Grindr
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK - Feb 17 - SinglesAroundMe is assisting more face-to-face meetings, replacing chat-up lines in bars with messages from the GPS-enabled app. Launched in 2010, 550K messages were sent between singles all over the world last year alone. Most of SinglesAroundMe's users are between the ages of 25 and 50, with the USA home to nearly a quarter of a million downloaders. The potential of the gay market is not lost on the founder, and two months ago he launched GaysAroundMe - more squarely aligned to compete with the likes of Grindr.
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SinglesAroundMe Launches GaysAroundMe
PR WEB - Dec 14 - The popular global LB mobile dating app SinglesAroundMe launches a customized version for gays called GaysAroundMe. The main feature of GaysAroundMe is a search tool called "GAM" which shows singles from 100 feet to 100 miles of your current location worldwide. Results are displayed on a geographical map, where users can then view pictures and profiles and send winks and messages to begin flirting.
The full article was originally published at SF Gate, but is no longer available.
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A New Kind Of Love Story
AD WEEK - May 3 - Not so long ago, you’d assume that a girl alone at a bar on a Friday night, furiously thumbing her smartphone, had been stood up. Now, thanks to apps like meetMoi NOW, SinglesAroundMe, and Skout, she could just be planning her evening’s assignation. While dating sites sift and sort according to compatibility, apps pre-screen for something else: instant availability. There’s another name for the inefficiency these apps eliminate: courtship. They might dance around it, but what the apps are really offering is the ability to order up sex on demand. One of the pioneering location-based apps is Grindr. Launched in 2009, it allows gay men to locate other nearby users. It claims ~1M users. The developers of Badoo, Facebook’s fastest-growing third-party app, liken its ambiance to a club. Friend.ly makes the search for love a more convivial experience by quizzing users about friends and interests. It has ~4M monthly active users. Among the newer apps is Singlesquare, a Foursquare offshoot launched in Jan.
by Hephzibah Anderson
See full article at Ad Week
Mark Brooks: Finally, location aware apps are gaining significant traction. Facebook has driven people to be more willing to share private info. The tech is now mature. Apple has driven the smart phone into ubiquity. iDating will morph considerably now.
(Full Disclosure: Friend.ly is a former client of Courtland Brooks)
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Mobile Dating App SinglesAroundMe Launches "Destination Search"
PR WEB - Feb 9 - Location-based mobile dating app SinglesAroundMe launched its "Destination Search" tool that gives singles the opportunity to see where other singles are in real time at any location of their choice worldwide. From the input GPS matched location, users can search for other singles from 100 feet to 100 miles. Results are displayed on a geographical map, where users can then view pictures and profiles and send winks and messages.
The full article was originally published at SF Chronicle, but is no longer available.
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New App For Canadian Singles
POSTMEDIA NEWS - Nov 20 - Singles Around Me is a new app developed by Ottawa entrepreneur Chris Klotz. The app allows two singles to send short messages to one another to set up a meeting. While accessing the basic app is free, Klotz plans to charge for more advanced features such as sending longer messages or having access to a personal e-mail box.
The full article was originally published at Canada.com, but is no longer available.
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