I am following the .mobi developments with a keen interest. Although some of the heavyweights are strongly behind this initiative, the extension does have its challenges.
The basic premise seems to have some merit, which is ultimately to ensure that consumers have a great "user experience" when accessing content on mobile devices. There are many challenges to successfully implementing such a system, not the least of which are 1) what standards should be employed to make the system work universally, and 2) how will the "system" be monitored and enforced in such a way as not to alienate website/content developers to the point that they abandon their projects.
The biggest hurdle may be when the .mobi "police" try to enforce rules and regulations with website/content developer customers. Information on the guidelines can be found at the following link.
http://pc.mtld.mobi/mobilenet/dotmobi_guides.html
I suspect that most of any negative fallout may arise from Section 2 of the Switch On! Web Browsing Guide. I've copied that section here for you.
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2.1 Purpose of Switch On! Guides
Dotmobi Switch On! Guides are a set of guides governing certain technical protocols and services in the ".mobi" (dotmobi) domain. These guides are a combination of mandatory rules and optional best practices that, when applied to content and services associated with the domain, ensure a good user experience for users interacting with the domain and its services via a mobile device. The rules mentioned in Switch On! Guide documents are specifically designed to be:
* Useful
* Achievable
* Measurable
Dotmobi Switch On! Guides are primarily oriented at domain registrants, since registrants are the owner of and content and services hosted at any domain, but are also useful for tool vendors and solution providers whose products and services may be involved with dotmobi.
2.2 Mandatory Rules Audit, Notification & Enforcement Process
Dotmobi domain name registrants agree to implement the mandatory registrant rules listed in this document whenever they publish a web site linked to a dotmobi name on the internet. It is strongly recommended that registrants also ensure that their applications also comply with the Highly Recommended Best Practices to improve the end-user experience.
mTLD will audit all dotmobi domains for compliance to the mandatory rules. mTLD will audit these domains in whatever way or frequency decided by mTLD to be practical and reasonable. When a web site using a dotmobi name is not compliant with the mandatory rules, an exception report for the dotmobi name will be created by mTLD.
Dotmobi names not in compliance with mandatory rules will have 60 days to become compliant. mTLD shall send two notices to the registrant's registrar asking the registrar to contact the offending registrant with the exception report. The registrar will be required to provide a 60 day, then a 30 day notice of this non-compliance. If a name is not in compliance with 15 days left to go, then mTLD may chose to contact the registrant directly after making best efforts to make contact through their registrar.
Dotmobi names that are not brought back into compliance shall be removed from the zone file for resolution on the internet. The dotmobi names shall not be deleted from the registration system, but their name will be placed on hold until they are in compliance with the mandatory rules.
2.3 Registrar's Obligations
Registrars are obliged to make registrants aware of all Switch On! Guides associated with the dotmobi domain in advance of any registration taking place. Registrars must either make a copy of these documents available to the registrant or point them to the authoritative versions on the mtld.mobi web site.
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Rules are put in place to assure orderly progression, development and maintenance and a level playing field for all participants. The question is: How will these rules and regulations fare in the real world marketplace? Too many rules? Too loose, too regimented? Realistic? Out of touch with reality? Will registrars comply? If so, at what cost?
Thoughts?
