Cambridge, MA based Viximo has launched TrueFlirt, an application that enables users to send and receive virtual flirts via mobile phone. Viximo is first and foremost a virtual goods company: think roses on HotOrNot or Facebook gifts. They have produced a video describing their virtual goods marketplace, a complete end-to-end virtual goods marketplace which brings together content creators, gift display, billing and publishing.
I’ve never reviewed an iPhone app before so I paid $5.99 to downoad TrueFlirt (iPhone only at this time ) and started exploring the application. Disclaimer: Viximo has been a client of Digicraft, my consulting company.
Configuring TrueFlirt was straightforward, although I had to add my birthday backwards, starting with the year, then the day, then the month, which took some figuring out. Once I got the application configured, I checked out the pre-loaded environments, which are broken down into categories: Playful, Romantic and Sexy.
First, you select one of the three categories. Then you can either preview the scenes in each or email one directly to one of the contacts on your phone or enter in a new phone number. Thankfully the application features few buttons, and the interactivity in each scene is highlighted for the first few seconds.
Interactivity features include: Blow, tap swipe, pinch, shake and tilt. At the beginning of each scene the interactivity options for each scene are highlighted for a few seconds so you have an idea of what’s possible. I can imagine that someone is going to have fun creating apps that feature Easter Eggs. (hidden features you stumble across in an application.)This bachelor pad was fun to explore, lot’s to things to tap and see what happens.
The graphics are amazing, so much more nuanced than the usual Flash stuff you see online. The iPhone is quite capable of rendering beautiful scenery and objects, even on my first-generation model. There are not a lot of scenes right now, but the ones TrueFlirt launched with are a solid indication of what’s possible.
Clicking the two people in this scene brought them together in an embrace, which clicking on the background and the bench triggers other events.
The audio volume of each scene varies widly, from whisper-quiet to ear-bleedingly loud. The design of the scenes reminds me of a Tim Burton film, somewhat haunting, dark and edgy. There are only a few producers out there at the moment, expect a lot of new scenes in coming months.
The People screen was empty initially, filling up with previous recipients of my flirts, which makes it easy to send additional scenes to a list of people. Sending a scene to someone couldn’t be easier, select a contact or enter a phone number. Viximo has even created a development platform called VixML to help content creators with no iPhone development experience get started creating virtual goods.
From TechCrunch:
VixML is based on the XML markup language, which may still be intimidating enough to scare off some prospective designers but is nowhere near as complex as an actual programming language. Using a number of pre-designated tags, the VixML WYSIWYG SDK and emulator, designers can create rich, multimedia mini-apps in a matter of days that would have previously taken weeks or months of programing. Basic tags allow developers to make their applications sensitive to a number of common iPhone user inputs, including shaking, blowing into the microphone, swiping and tapping with fingers, and tilting the phone. The platform also includes support for an integrated 3D graphics engine for nifty particle effects.
There are several issues with the way that applications are approved, first by Viximo, then by Apple. hopefully the process will be as smooth as possible. After all, Viximo is basically bringing something close to Flash to the iPhone, which Apple hasn’t been able to do yet. Expect people to build lots of non-flirt related apps with VixML.
Viximo has done a fantastic job broadening the appeal of their platform and services. VixML is no small undertaking and by opening up their market, they have avoided being pigeon-holed into the dating market, which, as with anything new, is slowly warming up to the idea of virtual goods.
I’ll be talking about virtual goods during my talk about revenue generation for dating sites at iDate. If you’re interested in learning how to derive additional revenue from your members I hope you’ll stop by.
The Boston Globe has more about TrueFlirt, Viximo celebrates iPhone flirting.
