Partial Transcript of Interview with Bob Bentz

Eric Michaels: As I recall the 900# days, tell me how that differs from today's dating options?

Bob Bentz: Well the 900# dating solution was made popular through newspapers throughout the country and in that case people would read the classified section of the newspaper and I guy looking like Eric would say, - Oh! She sounds kinda cute, I think I would like to check her out. So you would dial into the 900# listen to her message and if her message appealed to you, you could leave a personal message for her in her voice mailbox. So that's how it worked back then. Of course along came the Internet which was suddenly able to give us something the phone was not able to give us and that is a very important part and that's a picture of a person. So the Internet was able to give us something else. Now today a lot of dating has moved to text message dating through mobile phones. If I Iook back at the industry over the last 20 years - all three solutions are still active, certainly the 900# and the credit card phone phase service is a legacy industry and is used by those 50+. The Internet is going to appeal to all ages but most commonly the 25-54 age range which is our core users there and when it comes to text message dating that to date has been an under 30 type thing - an 18-30 year old product.

Eric Michaels: What would be some advantages of mobile dating as opposed to online dating or would you consider them one in the same?

Bob Bentz: Well mobile dating by its nature, you are able to do it anywhere! So if it's Friday afternoon and you are waiting for the bus to pick you up on your way home, you can easily get on your mobile phone and start texting with somebody and then perhaps arrange a meeting once you are comfortable with that person. So that's the beauty of mobile dating is that it can be done anywhere whereas online dating at this point is mostly when you are at home - hopefully not at work - but when you are at home and on your home computer whereas mobile can be done anywhere. Now that's going to change in the future. In the future you are going to be able to do the same thing on your mobile phone with your smart-phone as you are able to do with your online solution but it's just that the screen is a lot smaller and that makes it a little more difficult to navigate the many profiles and the many pictures that you would have on your online solution. Today there is 25% of the sub-phone-users have smart-phones and as that number grows you are going to see more and more of the online and mobile dating becoming much more similar than it is today.

Eric Michaels: Do people still turn to the newspaper for finding the love of their life?

Bob Bentz: Thankfully they still do...thankfully for our business they still do. The alternative newspapers, the city newspapers like that have held up a lot better than have the daily newspapers. In other countries like the UK for instance where the daily newspaper market is still much stronger than it is in the United States and Canada - the voice personals in the newspaper are holding up a lot more and are still a big part of the dating scene in the UK. In the United States, it is clearly a legacy product and we are advocating now to our media customers that they all move to the online solution which we are offering at MatchLink.com and WebFriends.com.

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