.mobi Poll: Expectations for .Mobi at this point - Exceeded - Expected - Disappointed

etimms · Jul 26, 2007

Put yourself back in October 2006 when it all began. Back then if you new all you did about .Mobi as you do today, would you say it exceeded your expectations or are you disappointed?

We have come very far. Just a few examples are flowers.mobi for 200k, foxnews.mobi, amtrak.mobi, and bofa.mobi. Who would have expected all this progress by now. I am voting exceeded.

-REECE- · Jul 26, 2007

etimms said:
Put yourself back in October 2006 when it all began. Back then if you new all you did about .Mobi as you do today, would you say it exceeded your expectations or are you disappointed?

We have come very far. Just a few examples are flowers.mobi for 200k, foxnews.mobi, amtrak.mobi, and bofa.mobi. Who would have expected all this progress by now. I am voting exceeded.

Great idea for a poll! I voted for exceeded as well. I'm very happy with the way things are going and am actually considering cutting back a few hours at the job to spend more time developing the names I do have.

Jeff · Jul 26, 2007

My personal thoughts ...

Not surprisingly to some, I voted disappointed ... it started with the "hype sale" of (still) non-compliant Flowers.mobi and has really grounded since, IMHO. Then lots of fake Sedo bids that never actually resulted in sales, and on through the last two very sobering Traffic Shows, IMHO. All this, and we still have no announcement on the progress of even the first four (4) RFP's ... the development of these reserved/premium .MOBI's being VITAL to the "ecosystem", in my view! Surprisingly, very little communications and substance out of the mTLD camp, as well as the supposed "backers" -- no stand-alone development of Google.mobi and no major promotions of same, for instance. How much - and for how long - did this "backing" actually amount to? Do you know? :blink:
.MOBI redirects to mobile compliant websites on .COM's ... the list of disappointments, for me at least, goes on ... most will say that it's early in the .MOBI Game™, I understand that but, then again, it has been nearly one year.

wap.foxnews.proteus.com

See FAQ's at Amtrak.com:

Do I need to enter a special URL in order to reach the mobile friendly Amtrak site?
No, just type in Amtrak.com. The technology employed will automatically read the device from which you are making the request and provide you the information in the correct format.

Link: https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile/

Just my two sense. :gl:

On a more positive note, for some, the "Mobile Banking" link on the BankOfAmerica.com site leads to a page that briefly discusses and, even better, promotes the use of BOFA.mobi - this is, by far, the most significant progress to date for the .MOBI, IMHO. I've said it several times ... and I wish for those heavily invested in .MOBI's there were more like it, of equal or greater substance! :gl: :talk:

No one can predict the future, of course ... my personal feeling is that .MOBI will be relegated to a relatively small niche, or even novelty IMHO. Real progress from mTLD (again, the RFP's primarily!) and continued developments and major promotions such as BOFA.mobi being the two major factors to give it a chance at viable mass adoption, IMHO. Thanks for listening.
-Jeff

garrett200 · Jul 26, 2007

I can't vote on this because I didn't even know about .mobi until March!!!

benflippin · Jul 26, 2007

i say exceeded: regd a domain name 3 weeks ago and already have a 4xx offer threw name drive.

i say disappointed on ad revenue and mobile "friendly" affiliate programs.

binaryman · Jul 26, 2007

I'm afraid I have to wholeheartedly agree with Jeff.

PVFARKAS · Jul 26, 2007

"How much - and for how long - did this "backing" actually amount to? Do you know?"

why the past tense? I think they may still surprise us.

traffic ny was disappointing. flowers.mobi now seems somewhat of a scam. the city RFD status looks appealing and I think will be a success. (aLL I need is NY and they're putting 650m into etourism starting this year). realistically, I've flipped many times. Quite bullish now. I think better than expected at present.

in 6mo we'll be rocking :wave:

Pred · Jul 26, 2007

exceeded
but still i want more
of course, the best is yet to come

Keith · Jul 26, 2007

I expected success. We have a long way to go but are headed in the right direction. We can't expect mobi to take over the world in a few months time but it's slowly gaining momentum and we are watching it happen. Just look at all the major corps that have their mobis, some active, some not. I think what we will see are major ad campains start to happen all at once. The sooner the better but either way, if you bought in early you shall be rewarded!

mjnels · Jul 26, 2007

Jeff said:
Not surprisingly to some, I voted disappointed ... it started with the "hype sale" of (still) non-compliant Flowers.mobi and has really grounded since, IMHO. Then lots of fake Sedo bids that never actually resulted in sales, and on through the last two very sobering Traffic Shows, IMHO. All this, and we still have no announcement on the progress of even the first four (4) RFP's ... the development of these reserved/premium .MOBI's being VITAL to the "ecosystem", in my view! Surprisingly, very little communications and substance out of the mTLD camp, as well as the supposed "backers" -- no stand-alone development of Google.mobi and no major promotions of same, for instance. How much - and for how long - did this "backing" actually amount to? Do you know? :blink:
.MOBI redirects to mobile compliant websites on .COM's ... the list of disappointments, for me at least, goes on ... most will say that it's early in the .MOBI Game™, I understand that but, then again, it has been nearly one year.
wap.foxnews.proteus.com

See FAQ's at Amtrak.com:

Link: https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile/

Just my two sense. :gl:

On a more positive note, for some, the "Mobile Banking" link on the BankOfAmerica.com site leads to a page that briefly discusses and, even better, promotes the use of BOFA.mobi - this is, by far, the most significant progress to date for the .MOBI, IMHO. I've said it several times ... and I wish for those heavily invested in .MOBI's there were more like it, of equal or greater substance! :gl: :talk:

No one can predict the future, of course ... my personal feeling is that .MOBI will be relegated to a relatively small niche, or even novelty IMHO. Real progress from mTLD (again, the RFP's primarily!) and continued developments and major promotions such as BOFA.mobi being the two major factors to give it a chance at viable mass adoption, IMHO. Thanks for listening.
-Jeff

this was insightful. thank you for sharing your unique and compelling thoughts.

etimms · Jul 26, 2007

You can talk all you want about the DotMobi corporation, but what will make it a success is us. We can put up content without them and promote it.

garrett200 · Jul 26, 2007

keithmt said:
I expected success. We have a long way to go but are headed in the right direction. We can't expect mobi to take over the world in a few months time but it's slowly gaining momentum and we are watching it happen. Just look at all the major corps that have their mobis, some active, some not. I think what we will see are major ad campains start to happen all at once. The sooner the better but either way, if you bought in early you shall be rewarded!

Agreed. I have this sneaking feeling that when .mobi goes, it's going to go fast and furious. Like you said, advertising happening all at once.

Some people here, myself included, are going to be very happy soon.

PVFARKAS · Jul 26, 2007

i cold called a corp. yesterday to partner on a venture and i think it went pretty well. Cant disclose yet, but I was certainly taken seriously and my plan includes placing .mobi on main page how we want it.

scandiman · Jul 26, 2007

Without a doubt my expectations have been far exceeded. I guess the real question though is what were peoples expectations. Some had expectations of .mobi as a get rich quick scheme. Some expected mTLD to run TV, radio, print and billboard ads proclaiming this new extension to the world (obviously so that their regs would become more valuable). Some expected every mobile site in the world to switch to a .mobi overnight. Others expected a .mobi button or default on every phone released since the launch of .mobi. I harbored none of these silly expectations. I got some good names in landrush and have regged and bought many more since. That's fine and dandy but where does it go from there?

Build.

In this regard mTLD has seriously stepped up to the plate. I'm impressed by mTLD's commitment to site development as evidenced by ready.mobi, dev.mobi and site.mobi. They're big on W3C mobile standards and they're now working with the Mobile Marketing Association. Also they recently placed themselves squarely in the center of mobile content delivery by taking responsibility for building and maintaining a new device database that is more thorough and up to date than previous open source efforts. They have formed an independent advisory group with a diverse membership representing many industries with an interest in .mobi and the mobile web as a whole.

Domainers seem to care little about these things but in the scope of what .mobi is really about these actions by mTLD are of the utmost importance to the ultimate goal: getting .mobi sites displayed on users cell phone screens. Domainers are all caught up with placing a value on a name and miss the bigger picture. Sure mTLD has made some missteps but their priorities are in order.

hawkeye · Jul 26, 2007

scandiman said:
Without a doubt my expectations have been far exceeded. I guess the real question though is what were peoples expectations. Some had expectations of .mobi as a get rich quick scheme. Some expected mTLD to run TV, radio, print and billboard ads proclaiming this new extension to the world (obviously so that their regs would become more valuable). Some expected every mobile site in the world to switch to a .mobi overnight. Others expected a .mobi button or default on every phone released since the launch of .mobi. I harbored none of these silly expectations. I got some good names in landrush and have regged and bought many more since. That's fine and dandy but where does it go from there?

Build.

In this regard mTLD has seriously stepped up to the plate. I'm impressed by mTLD's commitment to site development as evidenced by ready.mobi, dev.mobi and site.mobi. They're big on W3C mobile standards and they're now working with the Mobile Marketing Association. Also they recently placed themselves squarely in the center of mobile content delivery by taking responsibility for building and maintaining a new device database that is more thorough and up to date than previous open source efforts. They have formed an independent advisory group with a diverse membership representing many industries with an interest in .mobi and the mobile web as a whole.

Domainers seem to care little about these things but in the scope of what .mobi is really about these actions by mTLD are of the utmost importance to the ultimate goal: getting .mobi sites displayed on users cell phone screens. Domainers are all caught up with placing a value on a name and miss the bigger picture. Sure mTLD has made some missteps but their priorities are in order.

Nicely put Scandi. :tu:

garrett200 · Jul 26, 2007

The fact is, it may end up being a 'get rich quick' scheme for some. Nothing wrong with that either, IMO.

People have different reasons for being in this, and making money reselling in a couple years is surely a valid reason to be in.

Keith · Jul 26, 2007

garrett200 said:
The fact is, it may end up being a 'get rich quick' scheme for some. Nothing wrong with that either, IMO.

People have different reasons for being in this, and making money reselling in a couple years is surely a valid reason to be in.

Agreed. Domaining would'nt exist if not for the money factor that drives it. The faster we can make it the better. The true test for people buying mobis will be renewal time. How long are you willing to wait and hold on to those nice names of yours?

mjnels · Jul 26, 2007

anyone who thinks mobi is a get rich quick thing....even in a couple years are going to be extremely disappointed.

get ready for the waves... they're coming.. we havnt even been through 1 wave of renewels.. you will see crazy things happen in the domainer world with mobi.

garrett200 · Jul 26, 2007

mjnels said:
anyone who thinks mobi is a get rich quick thing....even in a couple years are going to be extremely disappointed.

get ready for the waves... they're coming.

Care to explain that? What 'waves' are you talking about?

mjnels · Jul 26, 2007

garrett200 said:
Care to explain that? What 'waves' are you talking about?

the great mobi domainer depression is what im talking about.

considering, a good number of the mobi's registered by domainers are a joke.

garrett200 · Jul 26, 2007

mjnels said:
anyone who thinks mobi is a get rich quick thing....even in a couple years are going to be extremely disappointed.

get ready for the waves... they're coming.. we havnt even been through 1 wave of renewels.. you will see crazy things happen in the domainer world with mobi.

I see what you're saying, but I think that if you have good names and .mobi takes off, renewal fees are not going to make a bit of difference.

On bad names, sure it will make a difference. But if the name you reg'd is bad in the first place, it will still be bad when .mobi takes off, so the bottom line is that it's irrelevant.

The only ones who will be disappointed are the ones who reg'd totally worthless names to begin with.

About 20% of the names I reg'd are pretty much worthless, so I won't be renewing them anyway. The other 80% I have started renewing for the second year already.

mjnels · Jul 26, 2007

garrett200 said:
On bad names, sure it will make a difference. But if the name you reg'd is bad in the first place, it will still be bad when .mobi takes off, so the bottom line is that it's irrelevant.

The only ones who will be disappointed are the ones who reg'd totally worthless names to begin with.

exactly.. hence the big number of .mobis dropping.

what im saying is exactly as you said above... a LOT of people registered horrible mobi's .. im going to take a guess and say more than 50% of the mobi's registered by domainers do not have, and never will have any resale value. sooner or later people will figure this out... but the first few drop cycles are going to be pretty big..

garrett200 · Jul 26, 2007

mjnels said:
exactly.. hence the big number of .mobis dropping.

what im saying is exactly as you said above... a LOT of people registered horrible mobi's .. im going to take a guess and say more than 50% of the mobi's registered by domainers do not have, and never will have any resale value. sooner or later people will figure this out... but the first few drop cycles are going to be pretty big..

Sure, the .mobi 'scrap pile' is going to be big, but if you have some good names you don't have to worry about it.

As I said, I believe that about 80% of my names are good, and will give me a good ROI if and when .mobi takes off. I'm not concerned about the other 20%.

If you run the numbers, 200 domains @ $500 average value in 2 years is $100,000. Get rich quick? Not really, but a nice return on a $5,000 investment.

Not many other investments can potentially give that kind of return in 2 years. Key word potentially!

mjnels · Jul 26, 2007

well, it gets complicated because a lot of the people with bad names dont know, or dont want to admit theyre bad.

20% dropped sounds reasonable.. sometimes you gotta go with the moment and not think too hard in order to snag the good ones that woulda made you go "damn, shoulda grabbed that one" a couple years down the road. i know i got some great ones like that, but also will probably do my small part in the upcoming drop process.

dag · Jul 26, 2007

PVFARKAS said:
"How much - and for how long - did this "backing" actually amount to? Do you know?"

why the past tense? I think they may still surprise us.

traffic ny was disappointing. flowers.mobi now seems somewhat of a scam. the city RFD status looks appealing and I think will be a success. (aLL I need is NY and they're putting 650m into etourism starting this year). realistically, I've flipped many times. Quite bullish now. I think better than expected at present.

in 6mo we'll be rocking :wave:

While I agree with most of your post, the flowers.mobi sale can't be a "scam." Rick had his reasons for paying that much for it, whatever they may be, but since the sale went through, how could it be a scam? A scam would be if mTLD purchased it themselves, or paid someone off to do so. And I really really don't think that was the case at all.

Anyone feeling "scammed" by that sale can only blame themselves for letting it all go to their heads too quickly and getting their own hopes up too much -- take past .mobi sales with a grain of salt and look ahead at what might happen in the future. Nothing is a given, but anything's possible...

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