Ever since I learned about .mobi coming out (Landrush 1 begins in 5 days), I’ve been wondering about its significance. I estimate it falls somewhere between “huge opportunity” and “waste of time” (which can sort of be applied to anything I suppose).
But after researching it for a little bit, I didn’t really get a sense of where in the continuum it lies. Here’s two possible scenarios, the way I see it:
- .mobi is a sleeping monster and not enough people are realizing its potential or are aware of it. There are far more mobile devices than computers, and as soon as the providers get it together and access via phone becomes as easy and painless as access via computer, this market will REALLY open up. Landrush is coming in about a week and you’d be foolish not to pick up some choice domain names. Snagging a .mobi might be as significant and lucrative as snagging a .com was back in its heyday.
- .mobi is nothing more than another generic TLD like a .us or a .info. Most people will still end up using .com, even on their cell phones and it won’t make that much of a difference.
One rumor I heard was that phones will be defaulting to .mobi. I haven’t been able to really find anything concrete that states this. If it was true, then I’d be leaning more towards option 1, however, I’m not so sure that’s the case. A lot of hype has been thrown around “Google and Nokia are backing this” and other Don King-esque sales pitches, but it almost seems like self-promotion by the people involved with .mobi.
I’ve asked some people about the significance and potential of .mobi, but nobody has been able to really tell me a solid opinion. Any experts out there that want to chime in?
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.mobi is more than a domain; it is a set of standards that ensure that content delivered to mobile phones is appropriate. In this case, “appropriate” content means quick to download and does not incur above-average data download costs.
dotMobi has seen several studies that show that consumers aren’t interested in accessing the web on mobile phones to do things like watching videos or reading online books. Consumers are interested in using the mobile internet for getting actionable information. Think show times, news headlines, directions, reservations, phone numbers, comparison shopping. They’re also interested in relevant information for mobile phones. Think photos, ringtones, MP3s.
.mobi standards make all of this possible across practically every data-enabled mobile device.
And where standards are involved, it takes a lot of people who usually wouldn’t work together doing just that. So Google and Microsoft are working together. Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung are working together. Vodaphone, T-Mobile and Telecom Italia are working together. All of them put aside their usual competitiveness to come together and make mobile internet a reality.
The audience for mobile internet is enormous. There are four mobiles to every PC in the world, and the GSM Association expects 1.3 billion people to be connected to the internet through mobile devices by 2008.
Microsoft’s Eric Rudder recently said that most people’s first computing experience will be via a cell phone. In parts of the world where access to computers is likely to remain limited, mobile is sure to be the default platform for the internet.
13,000 global brands registered for domains during our Trademark Sunrise. I think they’re all betting on the potential of .mobi to make a difference.
But will people need to enter “websitexyz.mobi” as opposed to “websitexyz.com” into their cellphones? Using a “.com” is probably the default in most minds and I’m not sure you can change that unless the phone companies force that to be the standard.
I am certain, you know usability and all, that .com will be accessible on the device. The technology is booming so fast, it’s liable to leave standards in the dust. Yep, I to am surprised and mystified with the latest buzz on .mobi. No one really knows WTH I’m talking about anyway, so either reserve what you can or keep a close eye.
The one element in this latest tech buzz is that the .mobi domains are reserved. I think we have all had enough spam and misleading websites.
TORA, TORA, TORA!