Match.com expands mobile online dating service

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Online dating service Match.com is launching a new application for cell phones, allowing subscribers to keep track of their paramours while on the go.

MatchMobile will first be made available in the United States, UK and Canadian markets, with plans to extend the service to nine more countries by the end of the year.

The service provides subscribers with text messages to their phones when they have an e-mail from another Match.com subscriber and allows them to search for potential matches from their cell phones.

For an extra fee of about $5 per month, MatchMobile subscribers can receive and answer e-mails from suitors on their mobile phones.

"If you are having a conversation with someone and want to continue it on the go, you can. It cuts out the waiting," Match.com Chief Executive Thomas Enraght-Moony told Reuters. "As people become more and more accustomed to being able to do things while they are on the go, this becomes a more natural part of what they do."

An earlier version of Match.com for mobile phones was used by nearly half a million subscribers, Enraght-Moony said. The new application will allow subscribers to tap into Match.com's database of nearly 15 million registered users.

About 3.6 million U.S. cell phones subscribers used a mobile dating service in May this year, according to data from tracking firm M:Metrics that was provided by Match.com. The company also cited forecasts from Frost & Sullivan, which predict that revenue from mobile dating services will grow to $215 million by 2009.

Match.com is part of IAC/InterActiveCorp.

(Reporting by Michele Gershberg)