Swedish Valentine Messaging Says Where But Not Who

[London, ENGLAND] A new messaging service developed in
Sweden lets people send anonymous romantic greetings
from their mobile phones, but — flirtatiously —
tells the recipient the location of the sender.

In fact, the service from the entirely non-pornographic
Swedish Blue Factory is called Flirtylizer, and both
names surely betray a less-than-perfect understanding
of the English language.

The only real snag with Flirtylizer is that you need to
know the other person’s mobile telephone number, a
limitation that definitely restricts its flirting
capabilities. However, it seems perfect for Valentine’s
Day, even though it has arrived at the last minute
to capitalize on it.

Soki Choi, chief executive of Blue Factory, said
that mobile dating services are very popular in Asia
and have the potential to be equally fashionable in
Europe.

“What is charming and exciting about Flirtylizer is
that while remaining anonymous, the sender’s whereabouts
in respect to the receiver are revealed by the positioning
function,” said Soki Choi.

BlueFactory, started by Soki Choi, John Wennerstrom, Per
Holmkvist and Linda Samlin in March 2000, has offices
in both Sweden and Hong Kong. It is an independent
developer of mobile entertainment services based on
Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Wireless Application
Protocol (WAP).

“Up to now, most mobile-game developers have focused
their attention on the development of male-oriented
services. We want to develop mobile services that even
girls find fun,” observed Soki Choi.

Whether the new service finds a market remains to be
seen. It appears to be relatively easy for the recipient
of the message to discover the sender’s telephone number,
simply by sending a reply message to the most likely
person and seeing if the system registers a match.

Blue Factory says the service will be tested for a
limited period beginning on Valentine’s Day, with
a proper launch expected later in the spring.