Friday, March 27, 2009

Looking for a date with Grindr

Gay, bi, curious, or just checking things out? Grindr is the location-based way for you to find men who are looking for other men.

This free location-based service works with the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch to hook up local users in seconds. It’s fast, fun, and easy to use—offering profiles, photos, and stats at a touch. And unlike other dating sites, Grindr is mobile and works based on your location. Grindr uses the GPS technology in the iPhone and Wi-Fi in the iPod Touch to determine your exact location and instantly shows photos of the guys around you.

The genius of Grindr is in its immediacy. It allows men to connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Once Grindr is launched, local men looking to meet up appear. The closest men appear first. More info on a chosen guy is available in seconds, as are chat, additional photos, and his map location. There is no complicated registration process or account setup. To protect privacy, users can share as much or as little info as they desire.

One of my concerns with new iPhone-based dating networks like Skout is they they have to face off with huge, well established players like Match.com, which are slowly releasing their own iPhone applications. Grindr's Joel Simkhai says that there are a number of well established dating sites for gay men, but says that many of them feature adult content which Apple likely will be opposed to, giving Grindr a better shot.

Scott Lewallen, the creative mind behind Grindr, is confident that it is the next killer app. “Other apps take five steps to do what Grindr does in a single tap. It’s a simple, sexy user interface that connects you instantly with dudes in your area, all from the comfort and privacy of your iPhone.”

And did I mention the best part? Grindr is 100% free. There is no cost to text message guys in Grindr and it’s a free download on iTunes.

No comments: