.mobi To the Mobi Skeptics

mobi branded cellphones

Hi. This is my first post, so please pardon any mistakes I make using the system.
I attended Traffic last week in Ft Lauderdale and there was a presentation by a principal representative of the Mobi organization. What I initially liked about Mobi was the list of investors...I think it includes four major cell phone manufacturers...and Google....and Microsoft. Now, on the one hand, I am apprehensive about that stuff, because often you find out much later that the big boy (company) that you heard was an early investor in a business....didn't really have to put any money in, there was some sort of an 'investment in kind', meaning they threw in some promotional services or some other participation, and the bottom line...no risk on their part. So when you have no risk, you aren't invested, and if it starts to go sour, you can easily walk away.
On the other hand, I see these big companies invest in EVERY idea that comes down the pike. Microsoft invests in hundreds of companies. So does Google. I remember a year or so ago Google invested substantial money in a company that was going to deliver internet access from ordinary electric sockets in homes. It may still happen...but the point is the big guys can afford to invest in all kinds of technology that may have some promise. So those are some of my cons, here's my pro...
One thing that struck me during the slideshow that Mobi put on in Florida was a standard photo of a cell phone sitting in front of it's original packaging. It appeared to be a stock photo from one of the manufacturers of cell phones....cant remember which one. But on the box, in the background, hardly noticeable, was the mobi logo....as part of the packaging.
So you go into Best Buy and buy a new phone. It comes in a pretty colorful cardboard box, and besides the manufacturers logo on the outside is this Mobi logo. Might not mean much, and it might have just been a mock-up for their presentation....but every time I think about buying more Mobi names, I think of that packaging, and I buy more.

dagersh said:

I think it's likely that they would DEFAULT to .mobi, but of course they would "accept" .com...

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That's the problem I am having. I think it's highly UNLIKELY that they would default to MOBI. It makes absolutely no sense for them to do that.

Can someone explain why the mobile business world would want to willingly hand over their subscribers/users/consumers to 3rd parties? From what I have been told and seen to this point, the dot MOBI domain ownership is mainly domain investors and domain speculators. It is hard to see the incentive in freely letting their "traffic" (for lack of a better word) automatically be filtered or directed to dot MOBI websites.

I would love to hear from those "in the know" as to why this could ever happen.

paxton said:

That's the problem I am having. I think it's highly UNLIKELY that they would default to MOBI. It makes absolutely no sense for them to do that.

Can someone explain why the mobile business world would want to willingly hand over their subscribers/users/consumers to 3rd parties? From what I have been told and seen to this point, the dot MOBI domain ownership is mainly domain investors and domain speculators. It is hard to see the incentive in freely letting their "traffic" (for lack of a better word) automatically be filtered or directed to dot MOBI websites.

I would love to hear from those "in the know" as to why this could ever happen.

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Hi Paxton,

My guess is some parts of the mobile industry see the arrival of a world wide mobile internet system as inevitable and plan to be ahead of the curve in this competitive environment.

If you look at the investors in the Dot Mobi you first see Microsoft (company that decided to make dot com the default for PC's)

Then Google one of the largest and most profitable search engines on the internet.

Then you have some of the largest manufactures of cellphones and mobile computing devices like Samsung , Nokia , Ericsson all investing and agreeing on dot mobi as the tld to be recognized as the official domain for mobile computing.

The weaker area is the carriers but there are some like T-Mobile who have invested in Dot mobi.

I am using Verizon Wireless currently and they have the controlled web environment you spoke of earlier. I still plan to use VW as they have the strongest coverage nationwide without roaming that i know of. ( I'm no expert. They are just the best I've found in my limited research)

I have tried Verizon Wireless's limited web experience and just felt like it was a joke. All you can do is buy overpriced ringtones and games from what I could see. Maybe there is more cool things ot do but at that time I couldn't find the hidden browser function you spoke of.

I just however bought a SideKick cellphone with a qwerty keyboard. I purchased a phone package of a 1000 anytime minutes per month and unlimited surfing of the real internet at T-Mobile.

I am still waiting for it to be activated and then plan to start pushing my mobile internet surfing to the limits.

My guess is that the industry has pretty much spoken and decided Dot Mobi is going to be the tld of choice for the emerging mobile internet.

Obviously not all parties are embracing dot mobi especially those that prefer to have the "controlled" experience metnioned above.

Also this is a parallel industry not designed to replace dot com and the pc environment but rather it will exist to compliment the PC internet experience.

There will be crossover back and forth between all the tlds on the 2 mediums.
(mobile and PC)

In other words people looking at dot coms , nets , infos, etc on mobiles and people looking at dot mobis on PCs ( If you can detect mobile and make a small screen environment you can detect a PC and show a full screen on a mobi name. please correct me if I'm wrong on that.)

All that said, you have all aspects of this industry invested in dot mobi. It is in their best interest for the domain to become default so as to increase sales of the TLD. For the cellphone manufacturers new phones can be marketed to be "Mobi friendly" etc as well.

Good to see you in the forums Paxton.

That's my 2 cents for now. I hope to be discussing the emerging mobile internet in more depth in the days to come.

It's an exciting time to be in the domain industry in my eyes.................

Best wishes,

C.T. Kirkpatrick
aka: Think

If interested, Manhattan.mobi is up now.

To view in dotMobi emulator, click here

nice site

Hi, Think. Thanks for your thoughts on the issue. I suppose having Microsoft, Google, et. al. as early investors and adopters of the extension is a very strong factor. They definitely have the clout to encourage the industry to adopt .MOBI as the default platform for wireless internet.

To me it still seems like a big hurdle to jump. It almost seems more realistic that they would fight to get their own .MOBI brands incorporated into the various mobile platforms - where they had partnerships/alliances with all the big players and networks. And other 3rd parties and big brands, like Rick Schwartz and flowers.mobi for example, could also negotiate strong partnerships for inclusion into this "inner circle."

There remains little incentive for mass inclusion. The owners/operators could still have a very strong "controlled" platform even if they sold off part of the pie to the big players.

Time will tell. But you did give me some more things to think about. Like I said before, I am intrigued by .MOBI and the potential that exists. I am rooting for its success as I am now invested in this segment of the market. :hehe:

Like they always say: the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward. And there is definite risk with the .MOBI space, so possible fortunes to be made for those who get in early.

Regards.

Pax

Carlton said:

If interested, Manhattan.mobi is up now.

To view in dotMobi emulator, click here

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Very cool site, I love it.


HF

Carlton said:

If interested, Manhattan.mobi is up now.

To view in dotMobi emulator, click here

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Carlton, a big congratulations on Manhattan.mobi and Tampa.mobi

No matter what one's feelings about .Mobi overall, there is no denying that city/state locations are one of the safest, most choice investments.

Awesome! I am really happy for you.

FathomJH said:

nice site

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hedgefund said:

Very cool site, I love it.
HF

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Thanks -

-db- said:

Carlton, a big congratulations on Manhattan.mobi and Tampa.mobi

No matter what one's feelings about .Mobi overall, there is no denying that city/state locations are one of the safest, most choice innvestments.

Awesome!

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Thanks -db-. Got fingers crossed for everyone's success with MOBI. Forum member Binfus and I went in on those.

Being new to domaining I feel fortunate to have entered this world at a time where there is an entry-level investment opportunity. Investment being the key word here as a domainer... I've been doing investments for years and I am approaching this industry as I did with any other investment... don't put in more than you can afford to lose... yet consider that any risk you take will have to be equivalent to any gain you hope to make.

That being said, I think the possibilities of having a default of .mobi on cellphones & PDA's and the like, as well as having an easy distinguishing characteristic for typical internet users to distinguish for "small-screen friendly" (knowing .mobi sites will be optimal) gives this new tld a great potential future.

THAT being said, I still know better than to now think that EVERY .mobi name with the word FLOWERS in it is now worth $XXX,XXX!!

Final say, so many valid comments posted in this thread for "skeptics" -- who are just being safe -- and only time will tell. So, if you have some extra cash, this is definitely one thing that seems a better than average bet... just bet with your head, not over it!

Carlton said:

If interested, Manhattan.mobi is up now.

To view in dotMobi emulator, click here

Click to expand...

Excellent name! Excellent site! One of my favorites the moment I saw it

Carlton said:

If interested, Manhattan.mobi is up now.

To view in dotMobi emulator, click here

Click to expand...

:kickass: If Mobi takes off you'll be able to charge $#,### for ad space in a couple of years.



I do have to say to those of you that think just because the large corp's are throwing money at Mobi that it will take off, hold your horses. You have to remember that the large corp's throw money at anything just to be sure that they can play if it takes off.

I don't understand mobi names. I have to see a few big websites to start thinking it has any value at all.

In a scale where we consider .com's as parameter I would value TLD's as follows:

.com : 100
.net : 50
.org :25
.info : 15
.mobi :0

Im a skeptic too, i will agree that cell phones and surfing with them are becoming bigger and bigger, but im still skeptical if .mobi will really turn out to be the big stuff.

Manhantten.Mobi is a great example of how i think .mobi is going. I see cities /food/traffic sites doign good. But when data is that compressed i dont think stuff will get really popular until it can be made near .com quality, and when it is, why not go .com?

I wish to add to this discussion that it is not matter of to hate or to love .moby (or any other alternative extension) it is matter here to
give opinion from the point of view of the professionals in the Domain Name industry.

The general impression is it that the growth of the number of new extensions it have negative side effects against the consolidation of the existing market, that it is dominated by the .com / net /org and the nationals TDL .
Someone suggest that a larger number of tlds it is equal to differentiation of the markets in the real economy, in my opinion it is not like that, it is much more like fractioning the existing market,and to opening the door to speculators: confusion never helped the clearness.

But probably I am going OT here : that's is matter for another more technical thread.

BTW it is not against those who hope to make money or those who believe that it is a good thing, it is against those who have the power to decide (to issue new tld) and they seems to do not consider at all the impact on the industry.

The problem is when you get investment and speculation you run the risk of getting into a boom bust scenario. The prices may go sky high until the real value becomes apparent.

If you are buying to develop a .mobi name then great - that is what it is there for. But if you are buying as speculation then you have to be aware that there will be winners and losers. You may get lucky or you may get stuck with an overpriced bunch of letters.

The real issue I have is that most mobile users dont know or care what .mobi is - many dont care about .com

I dont hate .mobi in fact it seems like a good idea, but one that could easily be ruined by people buying up names and not using them. How many of the current names that have been sold are being held for investment purposes.

Yeah,,, VERY nice.

I've seen a lot of clear thinking in this thread. Thanks to everyone's objectivity.

I like .mo than .mobi

I decide using a .mo to develop a site can support mobile device..

I like .mo than .mobi to develop a site can support mobile device.

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Of course you can use what you like but, in your place, I would use the . mobi .

Giving to the people what they like it works generally better than giving them what it like to you. (marketing rule) :imho:

holyroller said:

I dont hate .mobi in fact it seems like a good idea, but one that could easily be ruined by people buying up names and not using them. How many of the current names that have been sold are being held for investment purposes.

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Very good point. I see hundreds of people registering and only a handful developing. This could very well lead to the downfall of .mobi

Check out the links below if you're interested in developing:

http://www.zinadoo.com/
http://www.mobisitegalore.com/
http://pc.mtld.mobi/community/content_devforum.html