What is the future of .mobi?

[DigiNames]

I have read some speculation that the mobile phone manufacturers will make .mobi the default extention so that phone users will not need to type ".mobi" at the end of everything. For example, if you type "flowers.com" it will still go to that site, however if you just type "flowers" it will defalt to flowers.mobi. This would essentially make the extention into a "keyword" system.

I know that .mobi has some major backers. Do you think that this is possible or is this just wishful thinking by speculators?

 

[carlton]

You ask a good question and I don't think anyone can answer that yet. It occurs to me that defaulting to .mobi could possibly vary with the wireless carrier being utilized that bridges the user to the net. Verizon may handle this differently than do Cingular or Sprint.

One small positive is the degree of interest in developing mobi's. I've never seen so many domainers working on development ... in any extension. The critics are wrong about the mobi rollout. The gradual release, auction systen (and RFP's) will be effective in raising the probability of useful mobi content.

 

[Rockefeller]

I was actually going to ask the question about typing in a keyword into the phone. The phone could just have a standard search box, the user will type in a keyword suchs "homes" and the phone would direct it to homes.mobi without the user even knowing..is this in talks? If so, where's the article?

 

[Leading Names]

I don't think it has much of a future

- It looks stupid and sounds tacky
- Other extensions work perfectly fine on mobile devices, there's no need for .mobi
- I doubt mobile devices will default to .mobi in the future. Most if not all browsers do not append .COM to searches these days, the mobile industry will probably mirror what's happening on the real internet.

There's so much hype and false hope surrounding this extension – it's .EU all over again!

- Rob

 

[Luc]

I don't think it has much of a future

- It looks stupid and sounds tacky
- Other extensions work perfectly fine on mobile devices, there's no need for .mobi
- I doubt mobile devices will default to .mobi in the future. Most if not all browsers do not append .COM to searches these days, the mobile industry will probably mirror what's happening on the real internet.


There's so much hype and false hope surrounding this extension – it's .EU all over again!

- Rob

I agree. This is a typical case of speculators grabbing up domains for a technology they do not understand.

Many new phones already have built in web browsers. Ex: opera-mini, that render regular sites to look great on a cell phone. This makes it possible for anyone using a cell phone to visit any site, and not just .mobi pages which are extremely basic.

I have not picked up any .mobis because I don't believe in the extension. Let's see if I'm wrong...

Luc Lezon

 

[domain newbie]

You ask a good question and I don't think anyone can answer that yet.

i can answer , .mobi will eventually lose in a law-case against the .com and "other interested parties" under competition act The Chapter II prohibition and Article 82 , that says:

"Abuse of a dominant position it is applying different trading conditions to equivalent transactions, thereby placing certain parties at a competitive disadvantage;"

http://www.oft.gov.uk/Business/Legal/Competition/ca982.htm#abuse

 

[Fearless]

I have read some speculation that the mobile phone manufacturers will make .mobi the default extention so that phone users will not need to type ".mobi" at the end of everything. For example, if you type "flowers.com" it will still go to that site, however if you just type "flowers" it will defalt to flowers.mobi. This would essentially make the extention into a "keyword" system.

I know that .mobi has some major backers. Do you think that this is possible or is this just wishful thinking by speculators?

The people forking over big bucks for .mobis must assume this is a forgone conclusion.

 

[Avensen]

Sometimes one image says more than 100 words:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2006-08/27/content_675160.htm

 

[izopod]

I don't think it has much of a future

- It looks stupid and sounds tacky
- Other extensions work perfectly fine on mobile devices, there's no need for .mobi
- I doubt mobile devices will default to .mobi in the future. Most if not all browsers do not append .COM to searches these days, the mobile industry will probably mirror what's happening on the real internet.

There's so much hype and false hope surrounding this extension – it's .EU all over again!

- Rob

I respect you Rob, but at least we can agree this isn't .EU. The reason why mobile browsers do not default to .com is because most .com websites look like crap on handheld/mobile devices.... hence the reason for .mobi---to enable "billions" of people to "surf" the mobile internet without worrying about whether a site will be "readable" or not---very powerful stuff---think about that Rob...(seriously).

I do have one bold prediction. The "top tier" short, mobile savvy .mobi names will fetch quite a bit more than most .com's will. It's almost a no-brainer given the fact that when "hotels.mobi" goes on the auction block there will be some heavy bidding for it. This probably won't happen until 2008 (smart move on dot mobi's part) when awareness of the domain peaks. I won't even mention what sex.mobi will go for.

Now think about it Rob. These bidders will most likely not be "Domainers". If flowers.com went hard after flowers.mobi, just think what "hotels.com" will do when "hotels.mobi" comes up for bid.

 

[Leading Names]

I respect you Rob, but at least we can agree this isn't .EU.

Well, to be honest, I don't agree. The same hype existed around .EU and look where that extension is now – nowhere.

The reason why mobile browsers do not default to .com is because most .com websites look like crap on handheld/mobile devices.... hence the reason for .mobi---to enable "billions" of people to "surf" the mobile internet without worrying about whether a site will be "readable" or not---very powerful stuff---think about that Rob...(seriously).

Firstly, I was talking about traditional web browsers like Firefox, IE not mobile browsers. Why on earth would mobile browsers default to .mobi? The fact remains that the vast majority of mobile content already exists on established name spaces like .com, .org, .info and ccTLDs not .mobi.

- Rob

 

[DigiNames]

The idea of a mobile extension makes sense because .com websites are now becoming more complex since most people have high-speed Internet access. I don't like to visit .coms on my mobile, even though I have the capability, because the pages are slow to load, look different, and I am not able to type text as easily. However, I would visit pages that provided information and entertainment in a simple, easily-displayable format...

That said, ".mobi" takes me 9 key presses and one pause to type on my phone. In contrast, another mobile extension option that was available, ".wap", only takes 4 key presses and no pauses. I am sure that the .mobi administrators and backers would have considered this when they chose .mobi. This leads me to believe that they just didn't care, or had a plan to overcome the difficulty in typing .mobi names...

Hence the speculation of making the ".mobi" unnecessary to type, and turning the .mobi into THE mobi keyword system. Can you imagine how many billions of dollars the long list of reserved .mobis would sell for if they were essentially the keywords on all mobile phones to access the Internet?

I am sure that the .mobi admins would love it to happen, however the whole situation is a catch 22. The mobile phone software developers probably won't let users stop typing the .mobi until the extension is a widely developed and publicly accepted as THE extension for mobile Internet sites. However that will not happen until the public doesn't need to type the ".mobi" anymore...

 

[Jernet]

The idea of a mobile extension makes sense because .com websites are now becoming more complex since most people have high-speed Internet access. I don't like to visit .coms on my mobile, even though I have the capability, because the pages are slow to load, look different, and I am not able to type text as easily. However, I would visit pages that provided information and entertainment in a simple, easily-displayable format...

That said, ".mobi" takes me 9 key presses and one pause to type on my phone. In contrast, another mobile extension option that was available, ".wap", only takes 4 key presses and no pauses. I am sure that the .mobi administrators and backers would have considered this when they chose .mobi. This leads me to believe that they just didn't care, or had a plan to overcome the difficulty in typing .mobi names...

Hence the speculation of making the ".mobi" unnecessary to type, and turning the .mobi into THE mobi keyword system. Can you imagine how many billions of dollars the long list of reserved .mobis would sell for if they were essentially the keywords on all mobile phones to access the Internet?

I am sure that the .mobi admins would love it to happen, however the whole situation is a catch 22. The mobile phone software developers probably won't let users stop typing the .mobi until the extension is a widely developed and publicly accepted as THE extension for mobile Internet sites. However that will not happen until the public doesn't need to type the ".mobi" anymore...

nice post eace:

.mobi being the default extension would be a dream come true, and would make many a millionaire thruout the world.

 

[ThisDot]

Currently if I type a keyword into the address bar without an ext on my phone I just get an error. Has anyone tried this on their mobile devices? Would love to hear some input on this.

 

[WEBecri]

I just bought a PDA with a qwerty keyboard, and i have to say it works perfectly. To type in .mobi. only takes me 5 presses, including the dot. Besides, on many existing phones the T9 function is enabled, helping you typing in .mobi. When this function is enabled, it only takes you 5 presses, no pauses and including the dot. So how come thedomainster needs 9 presses?? Which phone is he using??

 

[mjnels]

i can answer , .mobi will eventually lose in a law-case against the .com and "other interested parties" under competition act The Chapter II prohibition and Article 82 , that says:

"Abuse of a dominant position it is applying different trading conditions to equivalent transactions, thereby placing certain parties at a competitive disadvantage;"

http://www.oft.gov.uk/Business/Legal/Competition/ca982.htm#abuse

hehehe... this is very cute, but not sure why you keep bringing it up..

this is like the 5th time youve mentioned it.. if you cant understand why something in the U.K. has nothing to do with .mobi, you may be beyond help..

Try to learn a little more, and be a little less worried about simply appearing intelligent and informed.

 

[PRED]

Mj,
i have tried telling her as a fellow Brit, it's ridiculous.
Mustn't be too tough though, must be hard hanging out with the Guys & being the only chick ! :eyebrows:
Predator

 

[akaning3]

i can answer , .mobi will eventually lose in a law-case against the .com and "other interested parties" under competition act The Chapter II prohibition and Article 82 , that says:

"Abuse of a dominant position it is applying different trading conditions to equivalent transactions, thereby placing certain parties at a competitive disadvantage;"

http://www.oft.gov.uk/Business/Legal/Competition/ca982.htm#abuse

"Uk vs the world". Ha, ha, ha. I cant see this happening.
I think that you are taking what was written in the wrong context. And I think that they are refering to products sold in Uk. My advice for you is to see the INTERNATIONAL LAW at www.Icann.org .

So, if we were to find a law written as the same as you wrote above in a city of a population of 100, would that law be valid? Let me help you. No. It is not valid.

Please read it again.
:becky:

 

[katherine]

No doubt there is a future for .mobi.
Five years on .coop .aero .museum are still there after all :cheeky:
Sometimes looking at the past can help understand the present better.

http://www.circleid.com/posts/time_to_renew_coop_museum_and_aero_icann/

.coop

The first proposal is from .coop, for co-operative organizations. Unlike every other sponsored TLD, one can make an argument that .coop is a success. They have 5,600 registrations, which they claim is far more than any other sTLD.
...
The original .co-op proposal projected that by now they would have between 100,000 and 500,000 domains, so they have egregiously failed to execute their business plan.

.museum

It’s not hard to imagine that somewhere in this process it occurs to the applicant that for ten bucks it can register in .org and be done with it.
...
The original .mus application forecast between 20,000 and 50,000 domains in five years, which they haven’t come close to meeting,...

.aero
They claim over 29,592 domains,...
...
Their proposal had an optimistic estimate of 259K names, and a pessimistic one of 94K names, which appear to have been off by about two orders of magnitude

Now don't get me wrong. These TLDs have failed because they are restricted too.
.mobi is not restricted, reasonably cheap and if enough registrars suggest .mobi in domain availability checks (just like they do for .biz .info) at least more people will get used to it (ask the layman about .mobi right now).

But you have to wonder what's next.
Perhaps ICANN will want to introduce .handi for disabled/visually impaired people ? Not that they do not count but they can be taken care of using existing technology.
They have "different needs" too after all.

What sets the new .mobi domain apart from other TLDs? What is it doing differently? The answer lies in its target platform, the mobile phone. Because of the different needs of mobile phones and other small mobile devices when accessing the Internet, the .mobi domain has rules for how content is formatted, something that no other TLD requires.

 

[PRED]

Kate,
thanks for post. I think you misunderstand the intention of .mobi though.
It can only be compared to past extensions in the sense that they were new extensions, once.
.mobi has sold hundreds of thousands of registrations, already a few weeks in!
You saw the traffic auction too?
The handling by .mobi of the launch etc has been so much more professional & successful than say .eu They have it seems learned from past mistakes.
.coop & .museum are obviously highly selective & were not ever going to be like .info or .mobi etc
Also the backers of .mobi are breathtaking.
There are 4 times more cellphones than pcs, it is designed especially for mobile interenet as traditional websites can be found mobile browsing but take yonks to download & are not screen freindly.
Time will tell of course, but i don't feel your analogy is fitting.
Cheers, Predator

 

[mjnels]

Not that they do not count but they can be taken care of using existing technology.

yawn... existing technology shmology....... the point here is that .mobi is funded by multi-billion dollar corporations....


microsoft and google could team up tommorow and poop in a bag... and with the right marketing technique, they might be able to convince people that a bag of poop is the new cool thing nowadays...


again, for the 100,000,000,000 time... NO WE DONT NEED .mobi.. but that doesnt mean the common idiot isnt going to have it engraved in their mind with the right marketing....



if these are the type of arguements people are going to continue to spit, i suggest you sit in front of your TV today and write down every product you see advertised... then determine which ones we really "need"........ let me know what you find out.