Internet dating service poised for 3G makeover

Lonely hearts will be given new opportunities to hook up once high-speed, third-generation (3G) services are brought to mobile phone dating.

LoverLover.com, the city's largest online dating service with more than 85,000 members, plans to bring its platform to Hutchison's 3 service, allowing users to upload video clips of themselves and view the profiles of others.

'We're very close to launch. There are a few technical details that we're ironing out but, for the most part, we're ready to go,' director Roderick Kar said. Users will be able to upload one video limited to 100 kilobits in size, along with an unlimited number of photos.

LoverLover is currently available to Hutchison's 2G subscribers, as well as to Sunday Communications and SmarTone Telecommunications subscribers.

'All of the services available on the existing infrastructure will be available on the 3G version,' Mr Kar said. 'Really, it's basically the same ... All we've done is make the most of the increased capacity of modern mobile phones.'

Mobile phone dating has yet to reach the scale of its online counterpart, but this could change as the popularity of content services grows. One interesting development is the addition of mobile technologies such as location-based services, which are unavailable to traditional online dating. With the services, Lotharios on the prowl in Lan Kwai Fong can meet up with prospective dates by letting other LoverLover users in the vicinity know they are nearby. But the feature is only available to Sunday subscribers. Hutchison is also considering adding location-based services. Another service available only to Sunday subscribers is anonymous text messages.