A few .mobi questions

[Raider]

I'm sure this has been asked before, not sure what the answer was... Why would MTLD decide on a TLD that takes 9 keystrokes on a cell phone?..

That's 2 keystrokes longer than a local phone number.

 

[Gerry]

Its called a qwerty keyboard.

 

[Fearless]

Its called a qwerty keyboard.

I thought .mobi was for the poor saps that have cheap phones with no qwerty keyboard.

 

[Gerry]

.mobi

It's iPhone friendly.

I would hardly call the Treo a cheap phone. Or even my Helio Ocean.

Qwerty is in, in a big way. Texting is just one facet of the keyboard rendering using such a phone a pleasure.

That would perhaps make you a poor sap?

The iPhone has no qwerty keyboard.

Have you actually used it, Fearless?

 

[Raider]

So your saying that .mobi is best suited for PDA or SmartPhones?

 

[Gerry]

So your saying that .mobi is best suited for PDA or SmartPhones?

ANY web enabled device including your PC.

Sorry if I don't give this thread my undivided attention, but I am working on a site right now.

 

[sashas]

Its called a qwerty keyboard.

they don't come cheap, exactly

 

[Gerry]

they don't come cheap, exactly

By the end of the year, they will be almost at a giveaway price except the very high end devices.

All mobile phone and device manufacturers want their items in use.

All telecomms want customers to use the mobile web.

Everyone wants a piece of the pie.

By the end of the year, my $99.00 plan for unlimited everything will probably seem high.

Virtual or physical qwerty keyboard will be the rage.

Go to VerizonWireless.com. Click on Phones and Accessories and scroll down to PDA's and SmartPhones. Enter any US based zip code. In my area I see two different motorola Q phones for $149 plus $50 rebate making them $99 bucks.

All phone companies will be going to bundles (services all in one).

Nearly every one is changing their policy to allow flexibility in the contract or no contract at all.

If Android takes off (and it will with Google's backing) then open source will change everything. Look at what you are paying for now. A license to use MS mobile or someone else.

Phones will come way down in price as new technology is introduced. This is a given in any technology driven endeavor.

You gotta realize that telecomms used to battle it out with each other but those days are gone. Look at all the mergers and alliances being formed.

Going back to work.

 

[Fearless]

The iPhone has no qwerty keyboard.

My iphone does. It doesn't work that well with fat fingers though.

 

[Gerry]

My iphone does. It doesn't work that well with fat fingers though.

Has a virtual qwerty keyboard, I meant to imply physical.

And you are 100% right with the fat fingers thing. I tried one at the AT&T store down the road.

Yes nice, but limited. Version 1.5 or 2.0 should be better.

I showed them the Helio Ocean and everyone was pretty impressed. Actually, VERY impressed. Fast 3G and most sites loaded quickly.

 

[Fearless]

I showed them the Helio Ocean and everyone was pretty impressed. Actually, VERY impressed. Fast 3G and most sites loaded quickly.

I think you'll be crossing over to our side way before Vision.

 

[Gerry]

I think you'll be crossing over to our side way before Vision.

You don't understand.

I am already on that side (.com) and have been for years.

I am on .mobi side and having a blast developing them.

Learning, but loving it.

I'm here because I want to be. Not by accident as I studied the market and global impact long before .mobi came out.

 

[mjnels]

I thought .mobi was for the poor saps that have cheap phones with no qwerty keyboard.

you have been victimized by rumors.

 

[Raider]

I lost my Cell Phone over a week ago, for real.... I'm upgrading to a new phone and plan to visit an AT&T store early this week, I also plan to try out the new PDA'S and will let you know what I think of them, Not as a domainer, but as a consumer.

 

[sashas]

ANY web enabled device including your PC.

This is what I'm most interested in.
How a .mobi site fares with the PC audience.

Look at Nokia. It has made its Medeo video service pretty much mobile exclusive by making Medeo.com just an informative page for Medeo.mobi

Thats an attempt by a large company to capture a niche market. They haven't even tried to compete in the PC video market, because Nokia doesn't need to.

Most smaller developers/entrepreneurs, however, cannot afford to focus on only one market. You need the PC and the mobile eyeballs.


here's the way I see it:
1. Ideal scenario: getting the .com and the .mobi of your site name
2. Second case scenario: getting just the .com, but not the .mobi
3. Worst case scenario: getting the .mobi but not the .com


For a developer starting out today, the PC market is still the one where the moolah is. Most haven't even figured out how to monetize a mobile site properly. This might change in the future with mobile internet surpassing pc internet, but for now, I'd rather be safe and own the .com (if I can have only one) than the .mobi.


And honestly, given the choice between making a business on either ForexMarket.com vs. ForexMarket.mobi, most here will choose the .com.

 

[katherine]

...
abcnews.go.com wap.go.com /wireless/abcnews/xhtml/ ABC News
allrecipies.com mobile.allrecipes.com Cooking
alternet.org www.alternet.org /module/feed/mobile/ News, politics
amazon.com amazon.com /mcommerce

...

yahoo.com m.yahoo.com
yelp.com mobile.yelp.com Restaurant reviews
youtube.com m.youtube.com

So tell me about auto detection.

Better yet, don't tell me about auto detection. Get out your phone and use it yourself and then tell me about auto detection. Sucks, doesn't it?

Can't see the whole site, use the whole site.

And what about the list above?

You've got companies that can not agree on a set standard to access a mobile site. How many variations do you see on this one page?

Fortunately we have bookmarks

I am not convinced we need a 'set standard to access a mobile site' given that there is no such thing as a mobile standard.
Also if I follow your logic .jobs looks like a great concept too - it basically acts as a shortcut/redirector.
While we are so doing we could also introduce a .accessible TLD for disabled persons. I am sure there is a possible market for that however tiny. Wether it is a good approach is debatable.
Notice the parallel between 'disabled' and 'mobile'. It all boils down to a somewhat crippled-down website.

 

[Gerry]

It all boils down to a somewhat crippled-down website.

if you can live with that, then enjoy auto detection even more. It simply sucks.

Fortunately we have bookmarks

But in the meantime you will have to try to remember all those cute variations and designer names or write them down until you can get to them and bookmark them.

Or you can remember stuff like

Lenovo.com and Lenovo.mobi
BMW.com and BMW.mobi
AirFrance.com and AirFrance.mobi

The crippled-down sites are the ones that are crippled by the auto detect. They determine what you see and don't see.

Meanwhile a site developed to mobile compliant standards is full functionality and service.

So you have a choice on the mobile device.

Auto detect and get a full crippled-down site, regardless of extension?

Mobile compliant site that is fully functional and formatted to fit the screen?

Gee, that was easy.

I am sure there is a possible market for that however tiny.

3.3 billion cell phone subscribers, 30% (1 billion) web enabled, cell phones outselling PC's 4:1.

tiny.

All I can really say regarding .mobi is then by all means, don't use it if it bothers you and others so much.

Are there other extensions that bother you?

 

[kylewill]

Doc Com,

I've always been a big supporter of .mobi, due to how different it was from the other 'newer' TLDs (info/biz/etc.).

I supported this because I believe in the "marketing hocus pocus" potential in this specific market. I supported it for the long time, the value isn't there yet, but to invest heavily now could provide a great return, given all the domainers who don't believe in the product.

On an international scale, the only decent point that sticks in my memory from sashas was regarding the people who purchase cell phones purely for talking, as cheap as possible. I respond with saying, phones with Internet capabilities will soon be the cheap phones.

However, now this same logic can be applied to the more 'up to date' countries (many Asian countries, United States, most of Europe, etc etc). And this is where all the important progress will be made, and the locales that must hop on first.

On a scale from 1 to 10 at being able to browse a non-mobile site, I would give the first generation Windows-based smart phones and PDA phones a 3. iPhones, a 5 or 6. And lets say 9/10 would mean equal quality with a standard desktop. This will be done in the next two generations of phones. With this kind of advancement, soon you won't have to create mobile sites.

In my opinion, two things have to happen for .mobi to take charge...

1) Superbowl-level .mobi advertising campaigns have to happen from a trusted, large company (like an Apple or Google).

2) Go here http://iphonetester.com/ Load up www.amazon.com. Do people like browsing sites like this on their smaller screen?

If users don't mind side scrolling, which will ALWAYS be a problem with cellphones/pdas/whatever, then the future does not need mobile designed sites.

However, if users get annoyed by this, and desire intelligently crafted sites for their small screens, then the marketing hocus pocus might work for this extension if the right message is put into the media from the right company.

 

[katherine]

3.3 billion cell phone subscribers, 30% (1 billion) web enabled, cell phones outselling PC's 4:1.

Come on, we all know only a very tiny fraction of these handsets are actually used for mobile Internet, or will be in the near future.

"cell phones outselling PC's 4:1.": just another marketing slogan without substance.

tiny.

Tiny. Indeed.

Are there other extensions that bother you?

.asia sucks too

 

[Gerry]

Doc Com,

I've always been a big supporter of .mobi, due to how different it was from the other 'newer' TLDs (info/biz/etc.).

I supported this because I believe in the "marketing hocus pocus" potential in this specific market. I supported it for the long time, the value isn't there yet, but to invest heavily now could provide a great return, given all the domainers who don't believe in the product.

On an international scale, the only decent point that sticks in my memory from sashas was regarding the people who purchase cell phones purely for talking, as cheap as possible. I respond with saying, phones with Internet capabilities will soon be the cheap phones.

However, now this same logic can be applied to the more 'up to date' countries (many Asian countries, United States, most of Europe, etc etc). And this is where all the important progress will be made, and the locales that must hop on first.

On a scale from 1 to 10 at being able to browse a non-mobile site, I would give the first generation Windows-based smart phones and PDA phones a 3. iPhones, a 5 or 6. And lets say 9/10 would mean equal quality with a standard desktop. This will be done in the next two generations of phones. With this kind of advancement, soon you won't have to create mobile sites.

In my opinion, two things have to happen for .mobi to take charge...

1) Superbowl-level .mobi advertising campaigns have to happen from a trusted, large company (like an Apple or Google).

2) Go here http://iphonetester.com/ Load up www.amazon.com. Do people like browsing sites like this on their smaller screen?

If users don't mind side scrolling, which will ALWAYS be a problem with cellphones/pdas/whatever, then the future does not need mobile designed sites.

However, if users get annoyed by this, and desire intelligently crafted sites for their small screens, then the marketing hocus pocus might work for this extension if the right message is put into the media from the right company.

Point taken.

Yes, a super bowl ad would be nice. What about a race sponsorship?

What about none of the above?

What if the advertisers began to wake up to the realization that traditional means of advertising are dead and dying.

Radio advertising dollars are almost a non factor.

Print advertising is on the verge of being matched by dollars spent on internet.

TV is becoming less of a marketing solution as prices rise but the market shrinks due to the internet, streaming video, TiVO, Pay Per View, and other premium packages.

If it is my money, I would put it where my audience is.

Bank of America did massive in-house promotion of their BofA.mobi. In the branch lobbys, drive up windows, an in flyers as well as their website. The result is 500,000 mobile banking customers in the first six-months, more than all other US banks combined.

High School Musical 2 is being marketed on the Disney Channel as HSM2.mobi.

Zagat.mobi is being marketed on placards inside taxi cabs in New York City.

Nokia's default home page on many of their new phones is Nokia.mobi for Business.

Several members have taken images of mobile advertising in subways, buses, bus stops and terminals world wide.

The difference here is advertisers are finally starting to come to the realization that in order to reach the customer, you must go to the customer.

And where is that customer? On the go, on the move, commuting via auto, bus, trains, subway. Put it on billboards, taxis, buses, placards inside taxis, subways, air terminals. And it is happening.

In other words, look for it in places you would not think to look for it.

The new consumerism is a model of demographics that do not watch television networks (video games, PPV, streaming), do not listen to radio (iPod, MP3, XM), do not read newspapers (internet, RSS, blog), and don't even have a land line phone in the house or apartment.

Here in the states, I am of the belief that Madison Avenue just does not get it. And that's just too bad. For decades Madison Avenue execs have sat on their pedestals in their post offices and clients were coming to them. They must be wondering where those clients are disappearing to.

In the meantime, there is a new media and medium to convey that message. Those that think the mobile internet is coming are already a year or two behind the concept that it is here. It was slow in coming to the states vs. Asia and Europe. But it is now gaining momentum.

Sure, I would love to see that home run superbowl ad. And perhaps it will come this summer as Visa, Lenovo, Bank of America are all official sponsors ot the Beijing Olympics.

But keep in mind that just because you and I don't see it does not mean it is not happening in other countries and in other markets because it is.

And no one has to take my word for anything. Afterall, it was not any one individual or another's opinion that influenced me into making the decision to get into this.

Come on, we all know only a very tiny fraction of these handsets are actually used for mobile Internet, or will be in the near future.

"cell phones outselling PC's 4:1.": just another marketing slogan without substance.

Tiny. Indeed.

.asia sucks too

You obviously did not read.

So if you buy an iPhone or an iPod touch, you don't use it to surf the internet?

So the 4 million iPhones already sold are just to talk.

So pick a number that you can live with to prove your point that it is just a tiny market.

Okay, what is that fraction?

10%? Okay, that is 100 million.

20%? that's 200 million.

30%?

Reports shown that 30% of web enabled cell phone subscribers have admitted to looking at or viewing porn on their phones.

Okay, that is 300 million. More then the entire population of the US.

But we know it is more than that, don't we.

If people are spending the bucks to upgrade and buy a web enabled phone, what in the hell are they doing it for?

A marketing slogan without substance?

Why has Sony, Toshiba and other computer manufacturers stopped marketing and advertising in Japan. No one is buying them.

Another marketing slogan without substance.

Wow, have you got some research to do. I am wasting my time doing it for you and anyone else.

Again, what has no substance are all these points against .mobi that are purely and simply based on opinions and non facts yet ignoring facts, stats, and evidence based studies.

But use the auto detection.

My auto detection BS-o-meter is off the scale again.