Part Two: The Business of Mobile Porn (Continuing the Interview with Tim Vandecasteele)

*Mature Content Alert, i.e. NSFW... well, just don't click on some of the links... oh, and if you're under 18, go away*

As I mentioned yesterday, Tim Vandecasteele and I chatted for one hour on Saturday, March 15. There was so much good material, I decided to make this a two part-series (click here for the first part). In this entry, we'll talk about Tim's concerns about mobile porn, legal and ethical implications, and the struggles of optimizing search engines for porn. Don't worry, tomorrow we'll be back to shorter, more digestible bits.

"iPhonePornGrid [iPG] like it is now is more of an experiment," Tim told me. "Does porn work on the iPhone?... indeed, it's super-accessible." Let's face it, of course porn works on the iPhone. It's an easy to use browser that can link to the internet via the EDGE network or any stray Wi-fi. In short, it's perfect for the lonely, computerless guy to whip up some inspiration for very portable way to get his rocks off.

But porn raises all kinds of issues. "I think Apple is afraid of [getting] a bad reputation," Tim says. "Porn is associated with spam and viruses." And, think about it: if iPhone really became a popular conduit for porn, it would make it more enticing for virus developers to create Mac viruses thus tarnishing Mac's superior reputation.

Tim also shared that only 37.69% of the visitors to iPG come through on the at&t EDGE network, meaning that a large portion are using the wifi capability, "so... it will definitely matter if iPhone has 3G." (We'll talk more about 3G in future entries.)

Mobile porn also raises concerns about minors. How do producers ensure that the phone is in the hands of not-so-impressionable eyes? Tim postures that, because iPG does not produce any content, they are able to avoid the legal red tape.

And just who are "they", the producers of iPG? Tim, age 23 and his 22 year old journalist brother. While Tim is in his last year at the University of Ghent studying electrical engineering, his brother, who has less tech experience, "uploads the content."

"The idea of iPG came because RubMyClit was such a huge success and the Google ads actually made some money," or so Tim says. "Too bad Google ads aren't allowed on porn sites-- so I went to AVN ads."

Getting money from a mobile porn site when you don't actually produce content is harder than you'd think. It's not like Tim and his brother at iPG are just middle men in a normal industry. They are running a porn site built for a mobile device. Because the iPhone display is different than a regular monitor, and because the EDGE network isn't as fast as your DSL, iPG seeks to make porn to fit the iPhone and load quicker. Tim says the average user spends 6 minutes and 23 seconds on iPG (to which my response was, naturally: "Well, that's long enough for me sometimes..."). We'll also talk more about how porn drives the development of new technologies in a future entry.

While iPG is not unique (there are many competitors you can read about on this VERY NSFW review site of mobile porn), Tim's model is a bit different from most being that they do not produce any content. "All [the] content is just from affiliate programs," meaning that users can see some content on iPG (quite a lot actually- all straight) and then decide whether to join an affiliate site. Simple enough, really.

"Actually, I want to go to some kind of paying model, but micropayments are not so easy, especially not for porn," Tim pines. By micropayments, Tim is talking about payments like "per picture or per minute instead of the pricier subscription model. "I want to make the payment quick and easy, but I haven't yet discovered the iPhone way of paying."

It's just not so easy to type all that information into the iPhone. But the alternative "micropayments" work a lot like the 900 numbers used to and how voting for American Idol used to: they partner with the phone companies who compile all the "Sir Charges" and put them on your phone bill. "In Europe we have some good SMS payment systems," Tim says. And I don't have to tell you how difficult it will be to make that case with US carriers.

So what does the future hold for iPG? Tim is looking into search optimization, but it's pretty difficult to rank on porn searches (imagining that the two best keywords for iPG would be "iPhone" and "porn", both likely already in hot contest). But Tim seems nonplussed, "In approximately one month I [made] my hosting costs back for a year. The rest are just little extras."

But to be honest, "We're actually looking into buying content of shooting content [if] feasible," Tim says. And, after all, like any guy, Tim says, "I consider shooting as a fun part, that's exactly why we're looking into it."

*I'd like to thank Tim for not only giving me an exclusive first interview, but also just being an all-around nice guy and tolerating my ridiculous line of questioning. We wish you and your brother all the best with your endeavor!*

First-ever Interview with the Man Behind the, umm, you know...

*Mature Content Alert, i.e. NSFW... well, just don't click on some of the links... oh, and if you're under 18, go away*

The writer was lucky enough to convince Tim Vandecasteele to sit down for a one-hour interview over the weekend. Would you believe no one else has interviewed the man behind the next big thing in sex ed? Readers may remember Tim as the man behind "RubMyClit". In this hour-long Skype conversation, Tim mused about his inspiration behind RMC, the mathematical formula he constructed to get the girl off, and the business of running a start up mobile porn website.

Tonight, I'll summarize the RMC portion of the conversation, and tomorrow, in part two, we'll talk about Tim and his brother's foray into the mobile porn world (a.k.a. iphoneporngrid.com or iPG as I'll call it).

Tim Vandecasteele would be a true American inspiration, if he were American. This 23-year-old son of Belgium and president of the student union of engineers at the University of Ghent is every technologically-advanced frat guy's best friend.

"I was working with my iPhone and one of my friends mentioned what my stroking resembled and I started thinking how I could implement that as I found the idea very cool," Tim told me on Saturday afternoon.

I had so many questions about RMC, and Tim patiently answered them all. Wanna know who drew that amazing representation of the vagina, painted nails and all? Tim would tell you that, at first, he "took a picture, but a drawing emphasized the game element and the fun. It also made it in my eyes easier to accept." And surely, he's right-- it wouldn't be so easy for iPhone users to show their friends at the bar if they were staring into a real vagina.

Ultimately, he found a photo on flickr. "I was looking for a nicely drawn vagina that wouldn't be too shocky," Tim says. "RubMyClit is NOT porn, [it's] just a fun game." And we couldn't agree more.

Many people have asked me if this site is password protected, and the answer is no. Tim doesn't see any legal implications with the game. "If minors want to see porn, they will. And as I said, I consider RubMyClit more as anatomics than porn," he said. (We'll talk more about this tomorrow in the second part of this interview.)

And, ladies, you'll be pleased to know that Tim simplified the mysterious act of stimulating the clitoris to some mathematical formulas. "[The formulas] first react to slow strokes, and later on [to] more rude and faster ones." Tim carefully explained how the javascript application makes it possible to "make her come [sic]" on an iPhone, but almost impossible to do with your normal browser or scroll wheel.

"Everyone has the same one for now, the same speed, and the same rendering," Tim said when asked about the research or personal experience that went into the development. "It is more based on math fun than real-life experience." If only it were that simple.

And, fellow frat boys, Tim and his 22-year-old journalist brother were able to make money off of RMC with the use of GoogleAds. At its peak, after the article on BoingBoing brought RMC to the forefront, RMC was seeing upwards of 15,000 visitors per day. This success led the brothers Vandecasteele to create iPG, although the money has not yet caught up to them. "Too bad Google ads aren't allowed on porn sites," pines Tim.

What does the future hold for RMC? Well, the long-awaited SDK was finally launched, but while Tim was initially optimistic, the initial launch of SDK does not allow porn. "[Because] Steve [Jobs] doesn't want them," Tim would say.

Although RMC's visitors have declined to 300-400/day, I like to think that RMC will get its second wind as iPhone adoption increases. I'm also optimistic because I'd like to see Tim be successful-- he's just so likable and he really seems to know his audience:

"I actually thought about a male version, as I think you might enjoy that more," Tim had the audacity to say to the writer. (He was right of course). "But the gestures just don't fit."

That and the target online gamer audience (i.e. straight guys) probably wouldn't like getting a guy off. Also, let's face it, there's nothing mysterious about getting a guy off.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the second part of my interview with Tim.

UPDATE 3/17/08: Here is the second part: http://iphoneandthecity.blogspot.com/2008/03/part-two-business-of-mobile-porn.html.

The Dangers of Putting Naughty Photos on Your Phone

My roommate and coworker facilitates many trainings for employees. Often, after the training, attendees come up to her to chat about things and show pictures of children, just because they think she's cool (which she is, btw).

So, one particular day, she was training a particularly attractive gentleman who wanted to show her a picture of his dog on his phone (this gentleman does not have an iPhone). Well, as usually happens, in passing the picture of his cute pup around, the backlit screen went dark.

So, when the phone ended up in my roommate's hands, she exclaimed, "Oh, the screen went dark!" at which point she just pressed a random button.

But she pressed the navigate button. That button that scrolls to the next photo. And it elicited an immediate reaction from this gentleman.

"NOOOOO..." he reached in seemingly slow motion to avoid the inevitable. Because, you see, my roommate had already seen this guy's penis. Yup, that picture you take of yourself to send to an illicit lover and vow to delete,but somehow forget to delete.

This, of course, has become the stuff of training legend at our workplace. I couldn't help but wonder how many other people have had their naughty photos accidentally exposed.

It Was a Matter of Time

*Mature Content Alert, i.e. NSFW... well, just don't click on some of the links... oh, and if you're under 18, go away*

I've been alluding to this for some time, but it's taken me a while to get the balls to actually post about it.

RubMyClit is an awesome webapp for the iPhone that turns it into an animated vagina that needs to get off. s you rub the screen (it takes some maneuvering with two fingers) the drawing gets flushed and excited and the "Horny bar" goes up and the screen tells you, "Don't stop! I'm so close." (Check out the video demo here; if you have an iPhone, check out the real deal here)

But I couldn't win. Now, I know I'm gay and all, but I love video games. This pissed me off. Surely there must be a gay version. Not sure what that would be since getting a guy off isn't near as mysterious as getting a girl off, but still. A boy can dream can't he?

The program is licensed by Creative Commons, and links to the iphoneporngrid which specializes in creating porn fit for viewing on the iPhone. I know I've mentioned the MACC before, but you can imagine that as we count down the days until Apple launches the SDK (rumor has it it will be announced next week), the porn industry is staring at the iPhone as the gateway to making truly mobile porn.

I'm curious now what kinds of mobile cyber sex sites there are. What will "iPhone sex" look like?

*Update: My friend G* and U-fabulous were both able to get the girl off, and I finished her off once too in just 3020 seconds. That sounds like decent foreplay. Look for my exclusive interview with the creator of RubMyClit on 3.14! Yay pi!*

*Update: Here is the first of my two-part interview with Tim Vandecasteele of RubMyClit fame.

The Power of NOW: Mobile Dating Part 1 of ...

*Mature Content Alert, i.e. NSFW... well, just don't click on some of the links... oh, and if you're under 18, go away*

The way I see it, the iPhone should be a lot further along than it is when it comes to online dating, social networking, and, well casual sex.

There are all kinds of mobile or WAP sites for the various dating sites like Match and even JDate, but all of these are just portals to existing content and profiles that doesn't enhance the user experience save for a bit more "real-time" winking and flirting.

However, I require a bit more urgency. And I have high standards for technology. I'm still shocked when I realize a website doesn't have the functionality I expect it to.

A scan of iPhone webapps in the Social Networking category left me incredibly disappointed. Same old, same old . Looking around some of the leading online dating blogs (Collaboradate and the Online Dating Post) promised that 2008 would be the year that mobile dating really takes off in the US.

But seriously, how could there not be a site that takes advantage of the easy-to-use iPhone and alerts potential dates/one-night stands that I'm not only their type, but that I'm also in the same bar as they are?!?


And then I discovered iPling. For one week now, the writer has been a member of iPling. It was a new program and so I assumed it was all about hooking up. I should have known something was up when I went to join and it asked me to check the box to confirm that I was at least 13 before proceeding. Uh-oh.

When I finally figured out how to register, iPling's loose GPS system recognized my Queens address as some place in Iowa (save it all you Queens haters). When I repositioned myself in Manhattan's West Village, I had some more luck. iPling started in San Francisco and is a very new webapp that takes after the popularity of Japanese and European mobile dating/social networking phenomena.

The idea with iPling is that users can find locals in their area who share interest and meet up. I figured this meant casual sex, too. And I wasn't alone...

The interface was nearly impossible to understand and navigate. When it told me I had three words to describe myself I chose "gay, 25, single" just to make sure I got the important stuff out there right away. After I sorted out my profile (btw-- there's no way to post a picture, probably the most obvious drawback of this new program), I could look at the other people who matched my profile in the area. There were 8 on the entire island of Manhattan. Either I had discovered the next big thing or this was the lamest program ever.

Once you see someone you like, you can "Pling" them, which means you send an anonymous text message to their phone alerting them that you're nearby. Problem was, I "Plinged" three women (there was no way to tell otherise) asking them if they were looking to meet up. I know it sounds gross, but I was a.) researching for you, the readers and b.) mislead by what I hoped was another hookup site.

I never received any responses to my outgoing Plings. I left my profile up and active all week and on three occasions I received anonymous text Plings:

They all came from the number "320-75" from users with names like "njdog" and "odnam". iPling let me know that odnam was only 1.28 miles away from me (Njdog was a whopping 29.04 miles away presumably in NJ.) Both users seemed as confused as I was. Another difficult part was that I couldn't just click "respond" to the anonymous text, I had to start the response with a bizarre code like "ipling 2DVTG2." Not very convenient, user friendly, or even fun.

So, with the 13 year old disclaimer in mind, I quickly decided to change my profile to a G-rated one and wait until the real pioneers figure out how to make this site more user-friendly. I am pretty sure sites like this will become more user-friendly when the SDK is unleashed in an upcoming firmware upgrade.

Up next, I continue this foray into the annals of mobile dating and mobile adult content by introducing you all to the MACC.