Dating site Match.com is to launch a mobile web and text service for mobile phones in the UK, US and Canada, expanding out to a further nine countries by the end of the year.

Subscribers will be able to search Match.com from their mobile’s browsers and receive an SMS text message whenever another user sends them a message. According to research firm M:Metrics 3.6 million US mobile users made use of a mobile dating service in May 2007.

An earlier version of Match.com for mobile phones was used by nearly half a million subscribers, but the new service will allow subscribers to tap into Match.com’s database of nearly 15 million registered users.

Here in the UK two startups will be keenly interested in this news. Flirtomatic which has been playing in the SMS flirting game for a while now and newer startup Flirtnik.com.