A dating site aims to connect Apple aficionados with like-minded "Machearts." The idea is that if you love the iPhone and the Mac maker's other products you might have other things in common with an Apple fan. Profile pages on the site reveal such intimate details as earliest Apple product purchases and lists of favorite iPhone apps.
Called Cupidtino in homage to Apple's home base in Cupertino, Calif., the site is the brainchild of Mel Sampat. The former Microsoft employee came up with the idea during an argument with his girlfriend over whether he should use his iPad during dinner. Sampat told her that if they ever broke up he would date someone who likes Apple products.
"The more I thought about it, the more I realized people that are true Apple fans might actually have a lot more in common than they realize," he said.
Apple, notoriously prickly about its brand, hasn't taken issue. Spokeswoman Kristin Shuguet said Apple had no comment.
The Cupidtino site, which will charge users about $5 a month to read messages they've been sent, has snagged 16,000 Apple fanboys and fangirls since it went public this month. It's usable only on a Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. If you try to access it on a PC, it will let you know that Cupidtino is off-limits from Windows.
Andrew Fiore, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, studies how people form relationships through dating sites. "As those things become more and more integrated into life, I can see why people want somebody that might share their preference in that area," he said, "even if it is just one dimension of what someone likes about you."
Matthew Fortner has been at The News & Observer since 2002. He has a passion for gadgets, cutting-edge technology and all things geek.