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If love is a game, Plutolife wants to help you play it on your mobile device. Plutolife’s products include Mobilove (mobile dating), Mobimodels (picture voting, blogging) and Mobiflirt (mobile speed flirting). They also develop white label mobile social applications, which clients can brand under their own name. For example, their website says their technology supports the largest mobile dating platform in North America. We previously reported on other mobile dating applications, such as Icebreaker’s Crushorflush, Webdate Mobile powered by Trilibis, and MeetMoi.

Plutolife, the earliest provider of mobile dating solutions, is the result of a June 2004 merger in Norway between Plutonium Software (established 1999) and Live the Game (established 2000). The company is part of the Funcom group, a game developer listed on the Oslo Stock exchange.

Terri Perkins, Funcom’s Product Manager, answered some questions for us about Plutolife, which has over a million members around the globe and more than 7 years experience of managing communities.

If many people consider online dating odd, what might they think about mobile dating? But Perkins explains, “The mobile phone is very personal to most people and it is just a natural to many to use this convenient extension of themselves to explore relationships.” The most cited reason to use Plutolife products is to find a date and the second most popular reason is to make friends. A recent survey showed that 68 percent of respondents were in the 25-44 age range. Perkins says, “In the USA, we see more women using the services and more in the 18-24 range.”

Of course, for many, love is more than a game, and many Plutolife users have become engaged or married after meeting through their products, while others have developed lasting friendships. Perkins says, “The team regularly receives wedding or newborn baby notices. One couple even invited the Norwegian television to film them while they were marrying in a phone booth to celebrate their encounter on Mobilove.” But the results are as varied as the users of the products.

Perkins notes, “Many believed that people only used the cell phone to flirt/date when traveling but we’ve found that 83% of them prefer to use the mobile even when a computer is near or they’re at home on the sofa - perhaps multitasking while watching TV. The mobile phone affords more privacy and the convenience of being able to communicate whenever and wherever you want.”

Michael M.