According to the latest Online Personals Watch News Video of May 11, Userplane is rumored to be closing or has closed.

AOL is not interested in the project. Jason Grunster stopped by the Santa Monica office and said all the doors were 'locked' with 'no one in sight.'

Dating and Social Networking Software companies are now getting a plethora of calls regarding alternatives.

Toksta and Ekko are trying to suit up to be replacements.

We will be sure to cover this in Los Angeles in June. Anyone looking for replacement modules for this should be there to get a better feel for the market.

Marc Lesnick
Conference Organizer
Internet Dating Conference

I am surprised replies on this thread are quiet. This is major news tat impacts many companies in the business.

Does anybody has any news about userplane ???

This is really a big deal and there are still just speculations... Would be nice to get some facts.

It seems to be true

http://www.datingsitebuilder.com/the-fa ... g-109.html

When AOL bought Userplane 3 or 4 years ago, I was happy for the team but at the same time bewildered.

AOL, with has AIM, buys an IM company?

At first I thought they would merge the two products. Userplane execs told me that both platforms were so differently structured, that integration of one into the other was nearly impossible.

So it appears AOL left the business on its own: a profitable operation. It appears AOL's philosophy was 'don't fix what ain't broken.'

In the last year, 2 significant things happened:

(1) Michael Jones (former CEO) left. As part of his buyout, he stayed on for a year or two, then was to leave. Clearly, Jones had significant influence over the day to day running of this profitable venture. His departure at the time was not seen as earth shattering, but for point 2 (below) he was desperately needed.

(2) After the market crash in late 2008, AOL began significant cutbacks on all expenditures.

I personally noticed a change with the company for the 2009 Miami event. Since inception, Userplane had exhibited as a significant sponsor at every Miami iDate show. They contacted us, upset over the fact that the parent company had restricted their budget for the industry's most significant event of the year. While only 2 employees attended from Userplane, long time attendees noticed a change in the fact that the company was not exhibiting.

As time progressed, AOL had no interest in the operation. There may be politics (ex: "its not AIM"), but the company simply did not want to spend any more on Userplane, even though it was profitable.

So, AOL had 2 options:

A) Sell the venture. This seemed plausible considering that Userplane had the lions share of the online dating IM market.

B) Kill the business by closing it.

C) Move all customers to AIM.

Killing it made ZERO sense. But that's what AOL decided to do. They tried to quietly. (Like NO ONE would notice.... DUH).

At the end of the day...Userplane is NO more.

We are having this subject discussed at the conference in LA next month. Several dating operators expressed a strong interest in this subject.

What is interesting is that an entire market has opened for IM alternatives.

I have created a preliminary list for those of you interested in who else to go to. I am not sure if they will take your business (some do), but it is a list.

MARC LESNICK
Conference Organizer
Internet Dating Conference

LIST OF VIDEO AND AUDIO INSTANT MESSAGING (IM)
ALTERNATIVES FOR THE ONLINE DATING MARKET

123 Flash Chat
Ajax IM
AVCHat
Babuki
Bright Kite
Camshare
Catterour
Chat Blazer
Chatmaker
DatingChating
Dex Rex
Ekko.tv
FireF.ly
Flash Coms
FLASHCOM
Flick
fnkmedia.com
Gee See
Geesee
Gixaw Chat
IM fied
Imo IM
Imunitive
ISPQ
Jabbify
jaxterchat.com
Koolim.com
Lets Call ME
MeBeam
Meebo
MeGlobe
Message Pub
Mozeo
New Talkr
Nimbuzz
Oasis active
ONSM
Oovoo
PalTalk
Plugoo
Psyced.org
ROcketon
Site Bumpkin
Skymol
Social Bang
Streaming Video Software
Tiny Chat
tokbox
Toksta
TruTrap
Vawkr
VideoWhisper
Voxli
vsee
Webbr
Webby Chat
xoochat.com
XPanity
Yakkle
You Cams
Zoho Chat
Zopim

Audio Chat and Video Chat IM Technology Issues to Be Covered At iDate2009 Los Angeles

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - New York, NY 05/27/2009 - Many dating sites experienced an upheaval after one of the largest audio and video chat IM providers to the industry shut its doors for business. The June 25-26, 2009 event in Los Angeles will cover alternatives for online dating executives.

Ticonderoga Ventures, Inc. announces that significant industry events that affect the internet dating industry will be covered in detail at the Internet Dating Conference taking place on June 25-26, 2009 at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA.

In recent weeks, many dating sites experienced an upheaval after one of the largest audio chat and video chat providers to the industry closed its doors for business. Many companies were left scrambling for alternatives. Many are evaluating options currently at this stage.

iDate2009 Los Angeles will have a session that will cover this issue in detail, with a list of the top Flash IM providers and an overview of what their technology has to offer.

Audio and Video chat are an important element for many online dating sites. The technology provides high customer retention and higher revenues. Implementing a new application requires additional back-end software work for many dating systems. The iDate special session will also cover varying business models for instant messaging.

Over the last 6 years, the Internet Dating Conference has become the industry's leading business trade show for the online personals, social media and matchmaking industries. It focuses on technology, management and business strategies for senior executives. The website has a chart illustrating the breakdown of the delegates that attend iDate events.

Entrepreneurs seeking to start an online dating site have found the iDate events most beneficial. Video highlights from previous events have illustrated what both attendees and sponsors gain from the events.

For more information on the Internet Dating Conference, please visit the website or contact:

Marketing and Logistics Representative
Ticonderoga Ventures, Inc.
T: USA +1 212-722-1744
F: USA +1 208-728-6456

Media Relations:
Mark Brooks
Online Personals Watch
T: USA +1 212-444-1636

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, particularly as related to the business plans of the company, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by these sections. Actual results may differ materially from the company's expectations and estimates.

Hello:

I feel a need to add my company, CAMEyeO, Inc. to this list of Userplane alternatives. When I first started working on our product, faCetalk Online, I looked at Userplane as part of my competitive research analysis.

We have a widget that can be in corporated into any online dating site. An online dating site's webmaster can go to our site www.cameyeo.com and run a demo of our widget and learn how to incorporate it into their site for free.

Please see our new press release here.: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/05/prweb2460544.htm

We are different from the competition in that we do the following.:

* Focus on a private online video date which is available after the initial contact and interest is made using an online dating site's anonymous communication method (e.g. anonymous email)

* Audio/Visual communication is completely anonymous. You don't have to block another user if you don't want them to bother you. You just don't click on the link that starts the interaction.

* No Instant Messenging provided. Online video dates are scheduled. This respects each other's privacy as you don't get pinged just because you are online. That's annoying.

* We are a widget. We don't have any members. Online dating sites use us to make their dating sites standout in that we help them to provide instant audio/visual communication prepackaged into a complete widget.
Incorporating the widget into the dating site is all that needs to be done.

Dan Wellisch
CEO, CAMEyeO, Inc.
www.cameyeo.com

Being under pressure of Userplane official shut down, thousands of web site owners seek alternative solutions. In response to market needs Flashcoms will be releasing hosted chat and instant messaging solution.
The applications are being developed in full compliance with the Userplane API to provide seamless and easy transition. In addition to "industry classic" numerous features and innovations, Flashcoms compliments users with a hassle-free installation - a simple, copy-paste procedure.
Being among the speakers at the upcoming iDate conference held in June 2009 Flashcoms will make an official announcement of Z5messenger and Z5chat release. We welcome all interested parties to participate in exhibition to get latest updates straight from the tin.
Anticipating the official release live demos of Z5messenger and Z5chat can be already seen at http://www.z5messenger.com , http://www.z5chat.com.

_________________
Doug Brown
Flashcoms.com

Chuppo offers flash based applications such as Video Chat, Video Instant Messenger, Web cam recorder that effectively power dating web sites and social networks.
We believe that the future of the Web is becoming more personal and interactive. This would be impossible without rich media interplay tools. chuPPo successfully applies Adobe Flash technology to build insightful applications and online user interaction via webcams.

Thinking of an alternative? Visit our official web site: www.Chuppo.com

_________________
Video Chat, IM and web cam recorder: www.Chuppo.com

Userplane responds!

OPW Interview with Darin Ohlandt

Also, they were at the Los Angeles iDate event. Quite a few individuals were there. Overall, customers accepted the issues and moved on.

Marc Lesnick
Conference Organizer
Internet Dating Conference