The above domains have been sold to domainers, or users speculating on the value increasing in the future, so the above numbers mean almost nothing.
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Just because there is a craze and a few people with deep pockets are buying domains doesn't mean it will last forever, especially since this craze is based on a hope for a technology that may or may not be adopted (many cell phones already have full featured web browsers that can render any regular web page in small format).
I agree with the other guys, like Duck said, there was a .EU craze too a while back and people were buying up EUs in batches for hundreds of thousands, even setting up EU corporations. Not much is happening with those awesome EUs now.
In my opinion, .mobi = craze. It will pass and I doubt cell phones will default to them anytime soon, if ever.
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Luc L.
That's one valid point indeed. At present we can speculate both ways.
Time will tell for sure.
Let's see in 2 years time when the first regs come due for renewal how many will drop and how many thriving, live sites are to be found under .mobi.
Let's be honest: this is still speculation stage.
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New extension comes out, some speculators buy premium names and then it just kind of fades away. The real battle is not with the speculators and initial purchasers. The real battle is getting the public to type in new extensions. The speculators that drive enthusiasm at the start actually hurt development efforts...
That's the bottom line. A TLD that was meant for large-scale usage cannot thrive without public awareness.
I'm not even convinced we need more TLDs. We already have too much pointless extensions. It's quite ironic that ICANN now wants to rid off deprecated TLDs while they are inundating the market with crap.
I know .mobi was meant to be a distinct breed but I do not see this TLD going anywhere. It's way too restrictive and any TLD including .com will achieve the same result.
IMO it has more to do with market segmentation and possibly some hidden agenda of the mobile industry lobby. If you want an example of what market segmentation means think about the so-called DVD zoning.
This is not a consumer-friendly technology as it exists solely for the sake of distribution rights (a lobby).
Actually the whole scheme is so bad it's been circumvented just like software copy protections are routinly cracked.
Likewise .mobi is not consumer-friendly because of the confusion it introduces.
Not all websites that are tailored/adapted to mobile devices are going to resort to .mobi.
Best practice lies in the design of web sites that are browser-agnostic and render to any device. It can be done and could be done. .mobi is not going to change that.
It's been said before, just because there is industry backing doesn't mean it will succeed. And even within the mobile industry not everyone is .mobi-enthusiast.
Mobile Internet will take off when it reaches the comfort of desktop computing. That is, high speed connections, cheap airtime, larger screens and input keyboards.
I'm sure that in the years to come technology will bring answers in the form of innovations like 'foldable' screens etc.
By then the need for trimmed down content and crippled devices will be gone.
To put it more bluntly, mobile should keep pace with technology and not the other way around.
