ICANN approves single character dot Mobi

[Rubber Duck]

http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-28jul08-en.htm

http://icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/mobi/proposed-amendment-28jul08.pdf

Interesting. I didn't realise that Mobi was technically an sTLD rather than a gTLD, although I guess the distinction will become fairly arbituary soon.

 

[Bender]

more money

 

[DNBA]

Ha. i told the owners of .mobi at domainFest that it should be .m cause it makes more sense for mobile customers. Glad they got it. now .m will be a strong gTLD. Personally i think ICANN is going to **** up the internet. i guess they dont see how they are going to create chaos for website owners. guess it would be a good time to get into IP law. lol

 

[Rubber Duck]

Proof if it were need most domainers don't understand the difference between top and second level.

 

[mkellerman]

THanks for this, Rubber Duck. So how will they allocate the single character domains then?

 

[Theo]

Suddenly it's not April 1st anymore

 

[Focus]

Yeah well they just approved .weed too and .420

I am going after Smoke.weed and Its.420

 

[katherine]

Suddenly it's not April 1st anymore

Smart way to rekindle interest in the extension

 

[chording]

Squeeze it to the last drop..

 

[Theo]

0.0

 

[GAMEFINEST]

Idiots, I am waiting on the .web ext..

 

[Rubber Duck]

THanks for this, Rubber Duck. So how will they allocate the single character domains then?

Well, if you have followed the link to the ICANN site, you have as much information as I do.

It would seem to me, however, that Mobi want to take maximum advantage of the situation and they will probably follow ICANN lead on single characters with an auction.

Having said that they have buckets loads of other stuff that they could auction if they could raise any real interest in the extension. Or they might simply do a Brannigan's.

 

[Alan Glennon]

Following those links, it does not appear that ICANN has approved single and double character .mobi (or .coop). It appears that they just opened a comment period about the issue (spurred by applications from mobi and coop) which is open until August 22nd.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Yes, technically that is the case. Just as they have only approved the policy for introducing New gTLD, but have not yet approved an implementation plan, but I would not bet against it happening. This is effectively a statement of intent.

 

[HuntingMoon]

*.mobi could be a 5 character name and shortcode so that would mean there would be a few .mobi's with valid functionality.

 

[Deleted member 5660]

what about the IDN mobi market?

 

[Rubber Duck]

Mobi are moving into the IDN market, but frankly I think they have an uphill battle. I would think brand awareness for dot Mobi in most of Asia is just about zero. As IDNs start to be used by end Users from November onwards, when ICANN launches it global awarenss campaign for IDN.IDN, the already dominant dot com brand is going to lock horns with the ccTLD registeries.

By the way, I realised what dot Mobi mean by sponsors. In order to obtain the TLD, they need to get Sponsors, because it an STLD (Sponsored Top Level Domain). They have been creating the impression that have financial backing from Industry Giants, but I suspect they have little more than signatures on their ICANN application. Mind you, they have never explicitly stated otherwise, so I guess that is fair enough. It is a load of crazy domainers that have put 2 and 2 to together and made 14.

 

[katherine]

They have been creating the impression that have financial backing from Industry Giants, but I suspect they have little more than signatures on their ICANN application.

Exactly. Some of the largest so-called backers ain't backing and they aren't promoting their mobi names either :lol:

 

[dn-101]

The interesting thing about .mobi is not that it's dying a slow death, just like many other tlds. Rather, it's the fact that the major holders organised in the Al-Qaeda fashion with cells throughout the industry and domain forums and they harass anybody who disagrees with them.

 

[katherine]

mobimob.com is already registered