Boonex, developer of dating and social networking software solutions, has recently released a new Public Preview version of Dolphin 7.

This Public Preview is actually based on Dolphin 6.1 (codename Spunky), but Boonex has done some considerable re-working to make it completelly stand out from 6.1. The version includes many new impressive features, such as integration with Google Maps, addition of desktop app based on Adobe Air and many many other updated and new components of the system. Check out this post at Boonex Blog for the detailed list.

Upcoming Dolphin 7 is 100% open-source and is claimed to be the last major update based on the current engine. Dolphin 8 (codename Poseidon) is to replace Dolphin 7 once it grows to its full glory. We’ll keep you updated on the development of both projects.

What do you know about location based dating? Probably, not too much. Alex Bloom, Founder of BluePont.com service, puts BluePont as “a groundbreaking software makeover for your phone that makes it automatically discover other BluePont-enhanced phones around.” When two BluePont phones discover each other in a close proximity, they compare the matching preferences, and alert both sides if it’s a hit. We decided to speak with Alex and find out a little bit more about this mobile dating environment.

Q: How did you come up with an idea of BluePont.com?

A: We had this fantasy of an ideal natural meeting that’s spontaneous and unpredictable. You enter a coffee-shop, your eyes meet, a conversation begins to flow. You are intrigued by the person before you know much about them and you are acutely aware of the role of chance. We wondered as to how we can make meetings like this happen more frequently for people and, perhaps, more smoothly. So the idea was born…

Q: You’ve recently served a milestone 100,000 mobile meeting. What’s so special about your service and who is a typical client of BluePont.com?

A: Just about everybody can recall a number of instances when someone sparked your interest, but nothing happened and you’ll never see that person again. In addition to the few people whom you did notice, just imagine how many were two blocks away, walked by you on the street, sat in a cafe next door – people you could have met right then and there, if you only knew. With BluePont, the odds of that spontaneous exciting meeting are suddenly amplified like never before and they come with a smooth “Mobile Meeting alert” introduction. Let’s say, normally you’d have a meeting like this once a month or you’d have to go to a place like a bar to meet people in real life, off-line, but now even as you simply go about your usual routine, you can have such meetings regularly happen to you. That’s what’s special. Most BluePonters are in their 20’s and 30’s, but the 40+ contingent is growing rapidly. BluePonters are largely professionals, but there are people from all walks of life.

Q: Which platforms and territories do you currently support?

A: BluePont works on all phones that have Internet access, but how it works exactly varies by phone. Phone-specific instructions and recommendations are provided upon registration. Currently we support all major English-speaking markets (the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia).

Q: Do you have any solutions for dating webmasters? Is it possible to integrate your service into dating site?

A: Absolutely, anyone interested in integration should visit this page, sign up and see a variety of methods including offering it on your site, co-branded with your name. We pay out 50% of all gross fees contributed by your users, in perpetuity, forever. BluePont is a service that’s uniquely sensitive to the number of users and their geo-density. So the more users join through each channel (site, etc.), the higher the revenue per each user becomes. Integrating BluePont can be a source of instant incremental revenue for dating webmasters.

Q: How do you see your service evolving in 2009?

A: We have a number of highly innovative enhancements in the pipeline, all aimed at making users ever more enthusiastic about BluePont.

Q: When did you launch your first online dating project? Please tell us more about it.

A: We launched MakeFriendsOnline.com in 2001. The idea was to run a free dating site and it was instantly successful in every way except the most important, it didn’t make any money. Online advertising was still very young; adsense didn’t exist and brands were only interested in advertising on other brand’s sites. We ran what ads we could get but couldn’t get even close to covering costs, so eventually we had to charge a subscription. This had the big downside that we also had to start seriously spending on advertising. Our biggest user base by far was in the US, but we couldn’t afford to enter that market with a subs based site, it was too big for the relatively small marketing fund we had, so we withdrew to the UK. Within a couple of years we were in the top 10 UK dating sites.

Q: What’s the current ranking for MakeFriendsOnline.com in UK and worldwide online dating?

A: A couple of years ago we noticed big changes in the dating market. “Free” was consuming market share, the largest players had begun to consolidate their share of the market and other companies were beginning to spend a great deal chasing them. We couldn’t compete with Match and Meetic, so we launched Smooch.com and moved the bulk of our marketing to Smooch, allowing MFO to move down the rankings. Smooch.com is now the fourth biggest straight site in the UK and probably the fastest growing. Meanwhile it sends loads of already monetised traffic to MakeFriendsOnline.com, so it’s a winner all round.

Q: What are the most challenging problems in switching from free to paid model in online dating?

A: As I mentioned before we really had little choice about moving to a subscription based model. Market conditions were good and we were very disciplined, ploughing all profit back into marketing for three years.

The greater challenge was going the other way, from subscription to free. We had to spend $400,000 before Smooch.com was even operationally profitable (that was two years ago, it would be harder now), and it cost us more in cannibalisation. Many members that considered makefriendsonline.com virtually their home until then moved to Smooch. They wouldn’t have moved to another free site, but when word got out that Smooch was an MFO site, they saw this as a recommendation and felt safe making the move to the less regulated environment of a free site. I predict that when DownToEarth grows Match will experience huge cannibalisation, but by then it may be too late. Making Smooch our main brand was always our intention, so we recovered after few months, but I don’t think Match have a similar plan. Rather than killing POF, they may kill Match.

Q: So, is Smooch.com going to stay free or you plan to introduce paid services on that site?

A: We’re doing that now. We’ve had a credit system, virtual gifts and premium search enhancements for a few weeks. Now that the virtual currency is in place we’re playing around with these and other new products, trying to figure out what works. We’re getting lots of interesting data and learning a great deal about the Freemium model. Ads are still by far Smooch’s main source of revenue for now, but it’s early days.

Q: What is your opinion on various white label dating solutions?

A: I have mixed feelings about White Label solutions. I’m not sure that they really offer the highly tailored solutions that niches require, and by making it so easy for people to enter the market they are pushing up acquisition costs for the rest of.

But they’re clearly a very good business for WL providers, who have experienced very impressive growth over the last couple of years. And they do offer opportunities to established sites who want to further monetise the existing databases. We are launching a few WLs ourselves. Upselling the huge traffic we have coming in from Smooch’s rapid growth to niches which we don’t or won’t cover.

What would you suggest for an online dating startup right now? Is it really worth trying to penetrate this market at the moment?

The short answer is not unless they have very very deep pockets, and even then maybe not. Member acquisitions are extremely expensive, retention has always been 3 or 4 months and still is, so the churn is horrible. It’s a highly fragmented market, the top few brands have become genuine household names and are gathering up more market share while the smaller brands are losing it to them and to the thousands of other small fly-by-night (but quickly replaced) sites out there.

There may be a few opportunities. If you can find a niche that isn’t yet saturated for instance, but that won’t be easy. We launched a gay site a year ago (mancentral.com) which has grown even faster than Smooch.com, but this year several other significant gay sites have also got traction. Every corner of the market is filling up so quickly.

Of course if you have a 10 million dollars to spend & take the long view with regard to profit, or have an amazingly viral idea, then you could just crack the market.

This March sees the launch of the Battle of the Builds - a competition in which all Dating Ad Network members are invited to participate in the Bone Fish program. The competitors will fight against each other to expand their dating affiliate portfolios thus earning themselves the biggest commissions and biggest bonuses of the entire affiliate base along with some nice bonuses from Bone Fish.

Each Dating Ad Network member is welcomed to sign up here . Following the sign and set up processes, members proceed to set up a networking site of his/her choice. Members may choose either the Black, Lesbian or Gay network, or a themed romance network such as Disabled Dating or 20 Something’s Dating (network combinations can be viewed in the Bone Fish Admin Centre), and will then proceed to brand the site with a logo, corporate header and footer. The member can also completely redesign the site, and make any other modifications to it, provided by the tools of BoneFish white label dating engine.

Following this, all participants are given the opportunity to generate as many sales as they can – through their own marketing means - and the first three members to reach 100 activated members will be awarded with bonuses in their affiliate admin accounts PLUS a higher commission fee on any active member that converts to a paying member.

Prizes and commissions are as follows:

• 1st Prize: 70% commission and $100
• 2nd Prize: 65% commission and $75
• 3rd Prize: 60% commission and $50

To be eligible for the above prizes and commissions, participants should:

• Sign up for the competition at: http://www.bone-fish.com/promo/?p=DAN-competition
• Buy or use a related domain name
• Choose a niche (Black, Lesbian, Gay, or a themed romance niche) and price range for the site
• Use the Bone Fish layout template and other tools provided to create a comprehensive adult site
• Create a front page with a corporate logo
• Submit the above fully-branded site to the search engines
• Market the site as they see fit
• Reach 100 active (FREE REGISTRANT) members before the rest of the competitors

The start date for the competition is March 1st, and will continue until 3 Dating Ad Network members reach the 100-member target. The first three to make it to 100 active members will be the winners, and will be rewarded with the relevant sum (as above) plus 60, 65 or 75% commission on any and all sales that are made throughout the competition.

Sign-up for the competition right now and get ready before the rest of the crowd!