Mobile social network Flirtomatic hedges its bets with MetroPCS

We’ve been following Flirtomatic for some time on GoMo. The mobile chat and dating service is one of the prime examples of how to launch, advertise and monetise a mobile service. Now the mobile social network has announced a deal with American mobile operator, MetroPCS. But how much use is that really going to be?

What does Flirtomatic do?

It’s a social network that shares profiles across on-line and mobile. The service operates much like any on-line dating service, with profile searches and chatting, but Flirtomatic has been studious in using metrics and advertising to push the service towards young adults (see our report here).

What’s the MetroPCS deal?

MetroPCS Wireless is a branch of MetroPCS that specialises in unlimited wireless deals. The operator has signed Flirtomatic on as it’s “preferred” mobile social networking service. Users will be able to access the social network through the MetroPCS Mobile Web Portal.

From the release:

Gary Cohen, Flirtomatic’s vice president & general manager of North America: “We’re delighted to be working with MetroPCS as our first major partner in the United States. Flirtomatic has demonstrated in other countries that our model is very popular and we are excited to launch with the nation’s leading provider of unlimted, flat-rate, no-contract service. We have seen that as U.S. consumers get to know our service they adopt, use and spend Flirt Points even more than in other parts of the world.”

What we think?

It’s great for Flirtomatic to get a foot in the door in the US, so to speak. It has a strong presence in England and Germany, but smartphone ownership is much better in America – along with willingness to use communication services outside of simple voice and text. But this really is just a foot in the door. Operator portals aren’t really the best place to push your service… yet. It’s one of those oddities in the mobile market. More than anyone else, the operators have the ability to reach millions of consumers at once. Yet that potential isn’t being exploited. The “dumb pipe” scenario, where operators do nothing more than provide the data channels that other services use, means that being on an operator portal will be worth precisely squat. But if operators can capitalise on their reach and influence, being on the ground floor with them will be a great place to be.