FunMobility: iPhone isn’t so hot at mobile flirting

February 13, 2009 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

The iPhone may be an incredibly useful and flexible tool, but there’s one thing it can’t do that well — flirt. At least that’s what mobile content company FunMobility found when studying the usage of its America’s Best Mobile Pix application.

APIX lets people upload mobile photos, rate them, submit them to contests like Hottest Girl and Hottest Guy, and, yes, send each other flirtatious messages. During the month of January, users of both the standard mobile application and the APIX iPhone application sent a combined 635,000 messages.

But it turns out iPhone users were doing a lot less flirting. The average iPhone user sent 60 messages a day, while everyone else averaged 175 messages per day. In the announcement, chief executive Adam Lavine says he expected the study to show the iPhone’s potential as “a mobile dating platform” but instead found the exact opposite.

So what does that mean? Should you toss out your iPhone if you want to get lucky with an attractive guy or girl? Well, maybe. But keep in mind that this study tracked a specific group of people (APIX users), not the general public. And of course there’s the whole “correlation is not causation” issue — just because people don’t use the iPhone to flirt doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the iPhone. Plus, I’ve never used APIX, but 60 messages a day still seems like a reasonable amount of flirting.

Oh, and if this whole mobile flirting thing isn’t working for you, you could give real life a try. Hey, maybe you could head to Taylors, South Carolina, where the hottest girls come from, according to FunMobility, or Bethany, Illinois, where you’ll find the hottest guys. Or you could find a local spot with the help of Google’s new map for love stories.

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • Sara
    Perhaps other conclusions could be that most iPhone users are already dating. Or iPhone users tend to be more selective about who they date. Or iPhone users have more things to attend to than sending over 60 messages a day. There are many other explanations that seem more plausible than the conclusion that owning an iPhone causes you to not date!
  • That's what I was trying to say here: And of course there’s the whole “correlation is not causation” issue — just because people don’t use the iPhone to flirt doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the iPhone.
  • Sara: or MOST LIKELY iPhone users score sooner and do not need to talk the dates into it. It probably goes like it
    "Hey babe I got an iPhone and you can drive it!"
    "Oh honey I love you soooo... pick me up address xyz NOW"
    And no need for 173 more messages, you already got your sex tonight.
  • Yuri, why don't you try that sometime and let us know how it works out.
  • zato
    Sara wrote: "There are many other explanations that seem more plausible than the conclusion that owning an iPhone causes you to not date!"

    But none that will draw the clicks better. Also, VentureBeat has an agenda to discredit Apple products for it's Microsoft bosses.
  • Gee, I sure feel like a fool for not arguing that this study probably doesn't mean anything. Oh wait, that's exactly what I did.

    Also, I'd suggest you type the word "Apple" into that search box before suggesting that VentureBeat has an anti-Apple agenda. Is the constant gushing about our iPhones and MacBooks supposed to be some kind of reverse psychology? Give me a break.
  • It seems great. I am subscribing now. Thanks for sharing a lovely information with us.
  • arsalan arain
  • DR
    We have an app for the iPhone that sends out virtual gifts (iGiphts). The most popular category is "Romance", with a lot of romantic/flirtatious gifts, and it is getting a ton of usage. I don't think you can assume the iPhone is not good for romance/flirting based on the experience of one app.
  • Again, that's what I said at the end of the article.