Mobi - My perspective after 11 years of domain names.

jeremyp · 09-26-2006, 10:51 PM

My final registration tally is 135... for now.

I've been in the domain name game for 11 years.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/241668-mobi-my-perspective-after-11-years.html

I was one of the first speculators on dot.com. I purchased 50 generic one-word dictionary domain names from 1995-2000 including my all-time best www.act.com, which I ultimately sold to Symantec through Great Domains.

From 1998-2000, I appraised over 3,000 names as domainappraiser.com.

Then I disappeared into the corporate world - where I remain today.

6 years after selling all of my generic terms... I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK... well, at least part time.

Why?

.MOBI beckons me back. It's much like the golden ring from LOTR.

I believe in .MOBI for many reasons.

1) Google, Microsoft and multiple cell phone carriers are backing it financially and with sweat equity. There is a real need from the carriers to have a successful wireless web. Web surfers = more money through higher turnover with better, more expensive phones as well as more minutes online. Google, Microsoft benefit ultimately from additional search revenue. And, much of it is incremental baby!

2) Country code domain names are working. .EU, .CO.UK, etc and are selling for premium. For instance travel.eu just sold for $300K.

3) Businessweek, Weatherchannel and many others are already online with the .mobi name. Soon enough there could be scores of entities on the web offering mobi related content.

4) Despite /xtml tags on well known .com websites, there is still no consumer trust in .com for wireless applications. There is a LAG TIME folks between the technology awareness for .COM and the establishment of the .MOBI name. In this next 2-3 years while mobile surfing comes into its own, all that needs to happen is that consumers are trained to go .MOBI. It could happen.

5) Asian countries LOVE new technology. My best guess is that the birth of .MOBI is with our first adopter friends on the other side of the pond.

6) Mobi went out of there way to protect the rights of unique/arbitrary trademark holders. In the meantime, they established awareness throughout those communities.

7) Mobi is brilliant about the way they are distributing their premium domains. They are going to distribute to either highest valued consumers via auctions (which will include big corporations - don't fool yourselves) OR to those who really have an excellent application for .Mobi (my guess). Either way, the absolute cream of the crop names will fall into hands with $$$. This isn't a bad thing. Sure, we'd all like to own business.mobi, but if it fell into my hands I wouldn't have the $ to correctly utilize the domain name. Ok, ok, I hear you... the business.com people had $7.5 million and still screwed up.

8) According to an Alexa.com web traffic check, the mtld.mobi site (the hub of Mobi information) is now ranked as the 4,750 most visited website on the net with a reach of 250 consumers per 1,000,000 per day. This is a very nice reach so early in the registration process.

9) 75,000 .MOBI names were registered on the 1st DAY! http://www.techweb.com/wire/mobile/193006177

Speculators, if you missed out on today, consider jumping in the game tomorrow. There are very good names available. I picked up gradschool, gradschools and graduateschools tonight (1 hour ago) to go along with lawschool, medschool, residency and phd that I picked up in the lottery.

Also, remember who your audience is... 10-30 year old first adopter tech born kids as well as first adopter cultures.

We're 3-5 years out from the wireless revolution in the US.

I'm going to blog around here from time to time.

Sincerely,
www.jeremy.com (i bought my name .com but couldn't get the dang .mobi!)

VURG · 09-26-2006, 11:05 PM

G'day Jeremy. Thanks for your input.
How are Google and Microsoft backing .mobi?

Gandhi · 09-26-2006, 11:10 PM

Great article, I believe Google backs it up financially and search. Then Microsoft with new technology.

JasMate · 09-26-2006, 11:41 PM

Nice theory, hope it pays off for you like .com did.....

...

gamehouse · 09-26-2006, 11:45 PM

Holy holy.

I just typed a very big reply and all wiped off. Curse my computer.

Nevertheless, what I wanted to state in one point is that it would take a long long way before .mobi sites are actively used on cellphones, considering the facts about technical constraints,data costs and user preferences.

I would not imagine myself using internet on cellphone to check about graduate schools, may be my imagination is limited.

On the other hand, goodluck to everyone thats getting into .mobi space.

GH

accent · 09-26-2006, 11:57 PM

Whatever happens or does not happen with .Mobi, figure it will happen with rapidly increasing bandwidth. In other words the limitations of mobile devices will quickly fall away (except perhaps size).

gradschool.mobi == Grad students can access lessons while commuting.

mobifranz · 09-27-2006, 12:33 AM

I predict the .mobi will be great. Go secure the ones that you need for your business or area of interest. CAUTION: don't go to 1and1.com - they are not set up to register .mobi names yet. Just found this out the hard way.

snoop · 09-27-2006, 12:52 AM

Originally Posted by jeremyp

From 1998-2000, I appraised over 3,000 names as domainappraiser.com.

You let this name expire?

amcdonald · 09-27-2006, 12:56 AM

do you feel the education domains will do well? i grabbed one .mobi and it has to do with education.

thanks, great post

GoPC · 09-27-2006, 01:19 AM

Originally Posted by jeremyp

Speculators, if you missed out on today, consider jumping in the game tomorrow. There are very good names available.

Thanks for the advice and perspective. I had bought all I wanted to risk and after reading your post here, I went back and found a couple of more good buys I think... for example

GolfPro.mobi
CellService.mobi
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=241668

Kudos and welcome back to the madhouse!

GoPC

mobifranz · 09-27-2006, 01:35 AM

Nice move - two great names - like them both.

Lasher · 09-27-2006, 04:59 AM

Ahh what I wouldn't give to have started into domains in 1995 instead of 2005...

slugraduate · 09-27-2006, 07:27 AM

Originally Posted by GoPC

Thanks for the advice and perspective. I had bought all I wanted to risk and after reading your post here, I went back and found a couple of more good buys I think... for example

GolfPro.mobi
CellService.mobi

Kudos and welcome back to the madhouse!

????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=241668

GoPC

Go,

Nice catch on the golfpro. I saw it was available last night, but opted not to reg. Found quite a few nice ones, but will wait and decide what to do when the open reg begins.

ATL.tv · 09-27-2006, 07:38 AM

I can personally vouch for Jeremy. I remember when he and his partner sold ACT.com. Jeremy has a bit (understatement) of a legal background and helped me out when I got a C&D letter from a major corporation.

Yes, he had domainappraiser.com and appraised many domains for me back in 1999-2000.

Jeremy is a real asset to this forum.

Welcome aboard.

jeremyp · 09-27-2006, 09:35 AM

Great to see you!

I definitely plan on being around to help mentor a bit!

Mobi could be where it's at.

:-)

135 and holding steady.

Jeremy

Originally Posted by aaamaretto

I can personally vouch for Jeremy. I remember when he and his partner sold ACT.com. Jeremy has a bit of a legal background and helped me out when I got a C&D letter from a major corporation.

Yes, he had domainappraiser.com and appraised many domains for me back in 1999-2000.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=241668

Jeremy is a real asset to this forum.

Welcome aboard.

cityforums.com · 09-27-2006, 09:43 AM

I don't see how a .com won't be able to do what a .mobi does

netzilla · 09-27-2006, 09:49 AM

Thanks for your words.

jeremyp · 09-27-2006, 11:04 AM

In the short term, MOBI will provide a roadmap to mobile/portable wireless device users in regard to what is easily surfable (for lack of a better word) and what is not.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=241668

In the long term, MOBI surfers will be trained to go to this device specific domain name... long after it's not necessary.

And, even if it's not necessary now - what really is? We could have stopped at .COM/.NET/.ORG. We didn't need country codes.

The key is in the marketing. Will .MOBI have the backing and corporate support... I say yes.

Just picked up 3 more... 138 total. :-)

Jeremy

Originally Posted by cosmicray

I don't see how a .com won't be able to do what a .mobi does

DomainBuyerBroker · 09-27-2006, 11:26 AM

For all you .mobi haters, this is the Big Bang of the wireless internet.

How about this for a prediction:

MySpace.mobi will have more unique visitors per day in 2010 than MySpace.com.

Imagine ebay bidding and alerts on your mobile phone.

Turn by turn directions with mobile coupons, tickets available etc etc all on the fly.

You can opt in to get the ads you want to see.

Think ahead people.

GoPC · 09-27-2006, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by cosmicray

I don't see how a .com won't be able to do what a .mobi does

I don't think it's a matter of CAN... I think it's a matter of WILL.

A proper .com doesn't display on a mobile phone the way it does on a PC. Conversely, a .mobi designed site will look like garbage on a PC.

I can see how there is a NEED for either a script that is able to detect whether or not a page is being displayed on a PC or a Mobile and then send the appropriate code.

????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=241668
OR

Simply use the .mobi ext for design and content specific to that format.

As such, I see a huge boom for new pages developed specifically for that format with that extension.

In fact, I reg'd MobiDesigns.mobi specifically for that reason. I'm already developing a portfolio of templates for mobi borne content.

The more I think about it, the more I get excited about the ext. I think the right amount of public awareness is in place and the huge corporate backing will ensure the rest of the user base gets educated, aclimated and assimilated.

COM still rules... so not this year, maybe not the next... but by 2008, .mobi will be as dotcommon on mobile devices.

GoPC

-db- · 09-27-2006, 12:16 PM

Jeremy, welcome to NamePros!

You make some good points. And you certainly got the 'bug' for .mobi

I've grabbed a handful of mobi's at this point (6 total). I like to get at least a small slice of whatever new pie is being passed around the table. Variety is a good thing.

I think .mobi has very interesting possibilities and great potential. I also think it's a fairly expensive, fairly high risk venture overall. But it's exciting to think about.

Originally Posted by jeremyp

And, even if it's not necessary now - what really is? We could have stopped at .COM/.NET/.ORG. We didn't need country codes.

I want to respectfully disagree with that part. I think we did need country codes. I think the facts speak for themselves (huge success of .DE is a prime example) and ccTLD's are a vital part of the web today, and will become an even larger factor in the future.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=241668

But that's another topic.....

jeremyp · 09-27-2006, 02:24 PM

Thanks, db...

Nice meeting you!

Jeremy

Originally Posted by -db-

Jeremy, welcome to NamePros!
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=241668

You make some good points. And you certainly got the 'bug' for .mobi

I've grabbed a handful of mobi's at this point (6 total). I like to get at least a small slice of whatever new pie is being passed around the table. Variety is a good thing.

I think .mobi has very interesting possibilities and great potential. I also think it's a fairly expensive, fairly high risk venture overall. But it's exciting to think about.

I want to respectfully disagree with that part. I think we did need country codes. I think the facts speak for themselves (huge success of .DE is a prime example) and ccTLD's are a vital part of the web today, and will become an even larger factor in the future.

But that's another topic.....

whitebark · 09-27-2006, 02:54 PM

It's very easy to get today's websites mobile ready - use avantgo technology. The better CMS packages already offer it by default. Any .com, .net etc can be mobile ready with a little hard work.

GoPC · 09-27-2006, 03:00 PM

But I doubt that is how it will be marketed to the general public by the massive amount of Corporate Support that stands to capitalize from this new advertising platform. They will shout from their virtual mountain tops that sites will work on your phones in .mobi. Launch massive ad campaigns around it. "Educating" the Lemmings to use it.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=241668

As I've said though, just look at a website on your phone... It's a Click Through PARADISE!!! It's ALL text driven, no real need to "hide" or "blend" ads, it's not even a CLICK... it's a highlight and enter, which is even BETTER.

Assuming you get people TO your mobi, I can see how this is going to convert VERY well... for we Publishers as well as the Advertisers.

Chills baby.... chills.

GoPC

*namenut* · 09-27-2006, 03:01 PM

Welcome Jeremy....may I ask what you see/feel about .tv's future?
also I just grabbed my first .mobi today.

Hope to see you around the forums. I'll be sure to take note on your threads . This old dog is always willing to learn.

namenut

09-26-2006, 10:51 PM	THREAD STARTER #1 (permalink)
jeremyp NamePros Regular Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 614	Mobi - My perspective after 11 years of domain names. My final registration tally is 135... for now. I've been in the domain name game for 11 years. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/241668-mobi-my-perspective-after-11-years.html I was one of the first speculators on dot.com. I purchased 50 generic one-word dictionary domain names from 1995-2000 including my all-time best www.act.com, which I ultimately sold to Symantec through Great Domains. From 1998-2000, I appraised over 3,000 names as domainappraiser.com. Then I disappeared into the corporate world - where I remain today. 6 years after selling all of my generic terms... I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK... well, at least part time. Why? .MOBI beckons me back. It's much like the golden ring from LOTR. I believe in .MOBI for many reasons. 1) Google, Microsoft and multiple cell phone carriers are backing it financially and with sweat equity. There is a real need from the carriers to have a successful wireless web. Web surfers = more money through higher turnover with better, more expensive phones as well as more minutes online. Google, Microsoft benefit ultimately from additional search revenue. And, much of it is incremental baby! 2) Country code domain names are working. .EU, .CO.UK, etc and are selling for premium. For instance travel.eu just sold for $300K. 3) Businessweek, Weatherchannel and many others are already online with the .mobi name. Soon enough there could be scores of entities on the web offering mobi related content. 4) Despite /xtml tags on well known .com websites, there is still no consumer trust in .com for wireless applications. There is a LAG TIME folks between the technology awareness for .COM and the establishment of the .MOBI name. In this next 2-3 years while mobile surfing comes into its own, all that needs to happen is that consumers are trained to go .MOBI. It could happen. 5) Asian countries LOVE new technology. My best guess is that the birth of .MOBI is with our first adopter friends on the other side of the pond. 6) Mobi went out of there way to protect the rights of unique/arbitrary trademark holders. In the meantime, they established awareness throughout those communities. 7) Mobi is brilliant about the way they are distributing their premium domains. They are going to distribute to either highest valued consumers via auctions (which will include big corporations - don't fool yourselves) OR to those who really have an excellent application for .Mobi (my guess). Either way, the absolute cream of the crop names will fall into hands with $$$. This isn't a bad thing. Sure, we'd all like to own business.mobi, but if it fell into my hands I wouldn't have the $ to correctly utilize the domain name. Ok, ok, I hear you... the business.com people had $7.5 million and still screwed up. 8) According to an Alexa.com web traffic check, the mtld.mobi site (the hub of Mobi information) is now ranked as the 4,750 most visited website on the net with a reach of 250 consumers per 1,000,000 per day. This is a very nice reach so early in the registration process. 9) 75,000 .MOBI names were registered on the 1st DAY! http://www.techweb.com/wire/mobile/193006177 Speculators, if you missed out on today, consider jumping in the game tomorrow. There are very good names available. I picked up gradschool, gradschools and graduateschools tonight (1 hour ago) to go along with lawschool, medschool, residency and phd that I picked up in the lottery. Also, remember who your audience is... 10-30 year old first adopter tech born kids as well as first adopter cultures. We're 3-5 years out from the wireless revolution in the US. I'm going to blog around here from time to time. Sincerely, www.jeremy.com (i bought my name .com but couldn't get the dang .mobi!) Last edited by jeremyp; 09-27-2006 at 11:01 PM.

09-26-2006, 11:41 PM	#4 (permalink)
JasMate Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 1,715	Nice theory, hope it pays off for you like .com did..... ... __________________ Cannondale Is Your New Bicycle

09-26-2006, 11:57 PM	#6 (permalink)
accent Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 2,295	Whatever happens or does not happen with .Mobi, figure it will happen with rapidly increasing bandwidth. In other words the limitations of mobile devices will quickly fall away (except perhaps size). gradschool.mobi == Grad students can access lessons while commuting. __________________ Domains for sale For List Of Country Code Domains Jewelry of Tibet and Nepal TibetanJewelry.mobi Tibetan Symbols Om Pyramids Ancient Egyptian Secrets Ancient Mystery Eden Shakti

09-27-2006, 12:33 AM	#7 (permalink)
mobifranz NamePros Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 29	Buy them I predict the .mobi will be great. Go secure the ones that you need for your business or area of interest. CAUTION: don't go to 1and1.com - they are not set up to register .mobi names yet. Just found this out the hard way. __________________ Mobi Franz

09-27-2006, 01:35 AM	#11 (permalink)
mobifranz NamePros Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 29	Nice move Nice move - two great names - like them both. __________________ Mobi Franz

09-26-2006, 11:05 PM	#2 (permalink)
VURG VURG Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 2,606	G'day Jeremy. Thanks for your input. How are Google and Microsoft backing .mobi?

09-26-2006, 11:10 PM	#3 (permalink)
Gandhi Account Closed Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 472	Great article, I believe Google backs it up financially and search. Then Microsoft with new technology.

09-26-2006, 11:45 PM	#5 (permalink)
gamehouse Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Montreal Posts: 1,405	Holy holy. I just typed a very big reply and all wiped off. Curse my computer. Nevertheless, what I wanted to state in one point is that it would take a long long way before .mobi sites are actively used on cellphones, considering the facts about technical constraints,data costs and user preferences. I would not imagine myself using internet on cellphone to check about graduate schools, may be my imagination is limited. On the other hand, goodluck to everyone thats getting into .mobi space. GH

09-27-2006, 12:56 AM	#9 (permalink)
amcdonald NamePros Regular Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 392	do you feel the education domains will do well? i grabbed one .mobi and it has to do with education. thanks, great post

09-27-2006, 04:59 AM	#12 (permalink)
Lasher Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Orlando Posts: 1,223	Ahh what I wouldn't give to have started into domains in 1995 instead of 2005...

09-27-2006, 07:38 AM	#14 (permalink)
ATL.tv atl.tv Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Atlanta Posts: 578	Welcome Jeremy I can personally vouch for Jeremy. I remember when he and his partner sold ACT.com. Jeremy has a bit (understatement) of a legal background and helped me out when I got a C&D letter from a major corporation. Yes, he had domainappraiser.com and appraised many domains for me back in 1999-2000. Jeremy is a real asset to this forum. Welcome aboard. __________________ Grow your SMB the old-fashion way with manual, methodical Search Engine Optimization Last edited by aaamaretto; 09-27-2006 at 12:01 PM.

09-27-2006, 09:43 AM	#16 (permalink)
cityforums.com Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Planet Earth Posts: 1,115	I don't see how a .com won't be able to do what a .mobi does __________________ AmericanForum.com Power to the People.

09-27-2006, 09:49 AM	#17 (permalink)
netzilla Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,717	Thanks for your words.

09-27-2006, 11:26 AM	#19 (permalink)
DomainBuyerBroker NamePros Regular Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Cape Cod Mass Posts: 884	For all you .mobi haters, this is the Big Bang of the wireless internet. How about this for a prediction: MySpace.mobi will have more unique visitors per day in 2010 than MySpace.com. Imagine ebay bidding and alerts on your mobile phone. Turn by turn directions with mobile coupons, tickets available etc etc all on the fly. You can opt in to get the ads you want to see. Think ahead people. __________________ Rob Sequin = Domain Buyer Broker

09-27-2006, 02:54 PM	#23 (permalink)
whitebark Part-Time Zombie Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 3,495	It's very easy to get today's websites mobile ready - use avantgo technology. The better CMS packages already offer it by default. Any .com, .net etc can be mobile ready with a little hard work. __________________ *DOT CA DOMAINS DEMYSTIFIED!* Coupon Code \| Green Business Directory \| Zombie Movies Download BONG OF THE DEAD Today!

09-27-2006, 03:00 PM	#24 (permalink)
GoPC Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,633	But I doubt that is how it will be marketed to the general public by the massive amount of Corporate Support that stands to capitalize from this new advertising platform. They will shout from their virtual mountain tops that sites will work on your phones in .mobi. Launch massive ad campaigns around it. "Educating" the Lemmings to use it. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=241668 As I've said though, just look at a website on your phone... It's a Click Through PARADISE!!! It's ALL text driven, no real need to "hide" or "blend" ads, it's not even a CLICK... it's a highlight and enter, which is even BETTER. Assuming you get people TO your mobi, I can see how this is going to convert VERY well... for we Publishers as well as the Advertisers. Chills baby.... chills. GoPC __________________ Just wondering why folks tell you your domain isn't worth reg fee then pay SNAP $70 for your domain...

09-27-2006, 03:01 PM	#25 (permalink)
namenut NamePros Supporter Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Las Vegas, NV. Posts: 3,436 Follow @namenut	Welcome Jeremy....may I ask what you see/feel about .tv's future? also I just grabbed my first .mobi today. Hope to see you around the forums. I'll be sure to take note on your threads . This old dog is always willing to learn. namenut __________________ GrowRoomz ~ RXkush ~ WTBnames ~ WTSnames ~ PortPholeo I try to keep my mouth shut ... but sometimes I type out loud. Aleixa - Bevus - Eliite - Grafrica - iViDD - Koilz - Muule - Ujene

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Mobi - My perspective after 11 years of domain names.

Buy them

Nice move

Welcome Jeremy