With an end-goal much more exciting than the way of getting there, everybody’s favourite dating app is getting new features that will “blur lines between the physical and digital world for dating”.

Whatever that means – let’s leave it to The Verge to explain:

Greg Blatt, the CEO of Tinder’s parent company, Match, says the new features will make the app less boring.

Match, which also owns other dating platforms including OkCupid and PlentyofFish, posted its third quarter earnings yesterday, noting that overall revenue of $343 million (almost R5 billion) was up 19 percent year over year.

So love (or no-strings-attached sex) helps money make the world go round.

Tinder wrapped up 476 000 new paying subscribers this quarter, holding on as Match’s strongest earner and “motivating the company to keep pouring resources into it”.

Rumours are that new features will include AI and location-based fuctions. That’s all we know.

Blatt is correct when he says:

“Until now, Tinder has basically been a swiping machine. It’s effective and simple but ultimately limited.”

He wants a fresh experience after a match is made, featuring:

[A] rich dynamic content experience bringing you deep into the activities of the people you’ve already matched with.

Although we weren’t given much about Tinder’s expected AI features, we know that they will be “consumer-facing and reliant on user data to personalize [sic] app experiences”.

While revenue has increased over the last year, Match’s operating income has remained the same – sitting pretty at $91 million (over R1 billion). Chief financial officer, Gary Swidler, says that it’s because increased headcount and employee stock options have proven costly.

Also:

This quarter, OkCupid’s revenue caught up to the other Match brands after lagging behind earlier in the year.

Match’s stock rose by 5.6 percent to 28.40 during after-hours trading yesterday after the earnings were released.

Ja ja, just give us the new features already.

[source:theverge]