FriendFinder and Streamray, which merged this time last year, already have a mobile presence, but the currently unnamed proprietary application will boost that presence by making mobile versions of FriendFinder and Streamray available to nearly all users.
“Different carriers have different protocols,” Legendary Lars, marketing director for FriendFinder, said. “With this new application we should be able to reach any platform created in the last three years; that’s excellent.”
Both companies see big potential in the mobile market. According to Lars, the expectation is to reach approximately 10 percent of customers in a mobile setting. That number should yield profits in the neighborhood of $1 million for the first year. But at present, the product is not aimed at reaching new customers via mobile.
“Only the cam sites are expected to draw in new customers,” Lars told XBiz. “We’re working on applications to make cam to cam work over the phone.”
To develop the new mobile applications, FriendFinder and Streamray brought on Harvey Kaplan, who helped AEBN launch its Xobile division.
“Harvey is our champ for mobile,” Lars said. “He’s going to help us make this happen very soon.”
According to Kaplan, the choice to join FriendFinder and Streamray was easy.
“My goal at AEBN was to help establish them as a recognized leader in mobile; that’s what I intend to do here [FriendFinder and Streamray],” Kaplan told XBiz. “They’re a great company with a great reputation.”
According to Kaplan, the application will be ready by the Internext show in Florida this August.
“The challenge with these ventures isn’t building the software,” Kaplan said. “The hard part is adding to the user’s habits. We know that we can show them that their mobile experience can mirror the PC; it’s about adaptation.”
