Get a pricey' affair

Prurient curiosity shoots up like anything every time a new entrant joins the jungle of dating apps anywhere in the globe. Offering ‘paid dates’, Ohlala, the German dating app is rolled out into la la land New York. Interestingly, the arrival has raised goosebumps and eyebrows simultaneously. The app, already been dubbed as “Uber for Escorts” in online parlance has kicked up enough sparks in mere three days of the US edition launch, but the company denies the charge and demands not to call it an “escort service”. Further explaining, in the new ground, the focus is laid on instant “on-demand” dates.

It works out thus: Initially only men are able to pay and find a partner. Male users create their profiles, feed in data of paid date requests, duration and price range.

Placing the request means the person is on the lookout for a date in the next four hours. The active female users, on seeing the request have 21 minutes to respond; either accept or deny. If only the woman accepts, her profile turns visible and initiating a private chat turns possible. “After both agree on terms, the date is locked in. And then you go out. Really,” Ohlala details its execution pattern.

And here the Ohlala CEO Pia Poppenreiter plays from the safer side saying: “But what happens on the date is actually a private matter.” The paid part is called a mechanism to work. The company’s early stint with Peppr that connected clients to sex workers is making the new move appear more dubious. The 2014 app with a huge user base later got scrapped as “it wasn’t ready for customers” leading to the opening of Ohlala. To sign up with Ohlala, it is mandatory that the user has attained 21 years to the least.

Difference in legal aspects is Germany and New York is sure to put to the test the futuristic prospects of the app, if the current element of suspicion turns true. Prostitution is technically legal in Germany but in New York, it is defined on terms of “misdemeanour”.

In its six months of “babyhood”, the oh-so-hot app has proven its mettle of “arranging” 25,000 paid dates in the cities of Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg. What started off in Berlin soon got expanded to Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Cologne and Dusseldorf. If buzz mills are to be believed, in Germany a one-hour dating could range anywhere between 100 to 200 Euros. New Yorkers have to wait and see if they need to break a bank for ‘companionship”.