Another Bad Sign For .mobi

[gwkg]

The new 2.0 firmware for the iPhone and iPod Touch includes a new Safari shortcut that goes beyond ".com".

According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, when you type in your web address you can now hold down the ".com" button to get the choice of three more extensions - ".net", ".edu" and ".org" - but no ".mobi"

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/15/iphone-101-hold-your-com-button-for-a-second/

 

[Ronald Regging]

There is a large chunk of people who own cell phones that don't even use the web through their mobile. Hell, I got a cheap phone that allows me to call and text people and that's all I do with it. Sure, I could pay extra money to access the web, but the truth is that I don't want to spend the money to look at crappy mobile sites. If I'm going to bother at all, I'll get a nice phone that lets me view normal sites.

And the fact is that technology is moving phones towards the direction of the iPhone. Sure, not everyone has one now, but in a few years I think it'll be fairly standard. mTLD and all of their backers have had 2 years to promote and implement .mobi in an environment where a majority of users don't have iPhones...(meaning, ripe for the picking), and they've done nothing. What makes you think that they're going to pull it off in the next few years? And what makes you think that even if they do, it won't be completely obsolete in a few years?

I don't dispute the fact that some people use it. But if you want to say that only tech-savvy people use iPhones.... I'd venture to say that there are more non-tech savvy people that use iPhones than there are non-tech savvy people that know what .mobi is. It doesn't take a lot of know-how to get an iPhone and surf the web.... But given the fact that mTLD has done nothing to promote the extension, I think someone would have to be fairly tech savvy to have even heard of .mobi, let alone have any idea why it exists. I'm not sure I even know why it exists and I can honestly say I've never personally seen any advertisements for .mobi sites, other than the few that people post in these threads as examples for .mobi's success.

People like Rick Schwartz can invest 200k in flowers.mobi and not even flinch, because he has millions to blow. It was a completely speculative investment and IF .mobi had taken off, he would have reaped many times the profit. Plus, by paying that much for the domain, he essentially pushed the hype through the roof and was probably able to recoup that money by selling other premium .mobi's on the hype and getting far more for them than he otherwise would have. I don't really know if he did that, but when you got that kind of money to throw around and all those options, it's a win-win if you play it right no matter how the extension fairs in the long term.

 

[qO_Op]

Naysayers just jump on anything that isn't directly .mobi! They refuse to even except its existance because from day 1 they have been repeatedly saying the same 'stuff' over and over and over again. If it's not mdot then it's redirects, if not redirects then it's the "full web" experience.... The only thing they can't accept is if it's not mdot/redirects/full web, it's .mobi!!!

 

[Jeff]

The door is wide open for mobi and the branding potential
is huge :tu:

^ Oh my, as other than mTLD itself, the "branding potential" of the made-up, entirely unnatural, long, two-syllabled, awkward & clumsy "dot Mobey" is - seriously - it's second (or third) largest OBTSACLE, IMHO. :o

To put it in my own humble perspective, the iPhone (see above) is the coffin and both mTLD and its ... errrrr ... "branding potential" (as well as its supposed "trustmark") are each the coffin NAILS! This is without even getting into the obvious technology advances favoring the .COM's, the unmentioned matter of demographics, its being obsolete, and the myriad of other severe shortcomings - still not adequately addressed two years later! - of both mTLD and the lowly "dot Mobey" extension, IMHO.
Tick. Tock.

-Jeff

 

[snoop]

.mobi is toast !! The speculators have been burnt and the hype that started the extension off has failed misearbly to live up to any expectations. RIP .mobi 8^X :bah: :lol:

I'm going to cross the floor on this one. Please stop with the silly comments, especially with those web.com names in your sig, you are making us .mobi naysayers look bad.

 

[mjnels]

I'm going to cross the floor on this one. Please stop with the silly comments, especially with those web.com names in your sig, you are making us .mobi naysayers look bad.

theres no way he's serious.

and radio should be radi (rad dee)
Seems silly

gawd... and lets not even bring up that new search engine "Cuil.com"... supposedly pronounced "cool"

what about "digg.com" with 2 g's...

yes some things seem like branding nightmares to begin with, but who knows in this crazy web 9.0 world.

 

[firefly]

I believe .mobi was just a sign of things to come. New extensions have just flooded the market and flecced many dominers who are desperate to get an edge in the game today.

I personally can't see why anyone would invest in anything but the main four i.e. dot com, dot net, dot org and strong country specific tlds. Anything else is pure speculation and a complete waste of time and money, mainly because none of the companies selling these things have made any real concerted effort to market these newer extensions to the the average joe who uses the internet.

Who's going to look for something they don't even know about!?

The thing that surprises me about these extensions, like dot mobi (and the current dot pro re-emergance), is the fanaticism that is bred into prospective buyers through propoganda compaigns by the sellers of said extensions. The tunnel visions and ferver that buyers persue newer extensions with, in the hope of making it big, just astounds me.

Newsflash....if you want to get on the next big thing...buy dot com...it's the biggest and it's not going to change any time soon.

Jeff..I'm a little dissapointed that you are remotely getting excited about a new extension...lol

 

[jmcc]

The only TLD with consistent DAILY Net Losses (as highlighted in red) are in the "dot Mobey" extension ...

That is to be expected in the Junk Dump phase for any TLD. It is not unusual that some people will use this to support their theory that a TLD is dead.

On the landrush anniversary .mobi had 959154 domains in the zonefile.
As of today (20081121) it has 918546 domains in its zonefile. (I just checked.)

The number of raw deletions since the landrush anniversary is 80201 domains. The number of new registrations since the landrush anniversary is 39593.

From the start of this month, .mobi has had 46966 domains deleted and 16052 new registrations.

959154 - 918546 = 40608
According to this figure, .mobi is off approximately 4.23% from the landrush anniversary figure. (These figures are based on zonefile counts.)

It is actually quite a good performance so far as some people were expecting the .mobi count to be off by as much as 10% at this stage. I think that one year mobi registrations were introduced in early 2007 and some of these being dropped earlier this year would explain a major deletion blip in .mobi activity.

http://www.hosterstats.com/Detailed-mobi-Statistics-2008.php

With MANY more drops to come ...

Yes that will happen. But the most important thing to pay attention to is the number of new registrations. For .mobi to be the disaster that some people want, the new registrations figure would have to go to zero.

Regards...jmcc

you do know there is money to be made with drops too..

Apparently Pool.com is getting into the .mobi drop market.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Jeff]

....ahhhh, does make members long for the tranquility we were blessed with here at NP up untill the last few weeks..

Go elsewhere to play full-time Rosey™ ... please ... as we deal with full and fair balance and REALITY here in the real world in the lively discussions on #1 Namepros™, IMHO. :music: :talk:

With ICANN's announcement of more new extensions, I fear .mobi will further be relegated (many would say it already is) to "developer tld status" -- nothing wrong with that imho, just something one has to remember before dropping coin on a mobi.

Righto, mTLD itself - early on - has stated the critical importance of a developed "ecosystem", but has, in its actions, instead turned to pure GREED MONEY ambitions ... my educated guess is you will continue to see further delays, excuses, no shows, and broken promises going forward, as well! :imho:
Prior actions and abandonment of the RFP process for its most generic domains ... should serve as a caveat to any current and potential "dot Mobey" investors, IMHO.

Happy Holidays! :santa:

-Jeff

 

[hawkeye]

Go elsewhere to play full-time Rosey™ ... please ... we deal with full and fair balance and REALITY here in the real world in the lively discussions on #1 Namepros™, IMHO. :music: :talk:

...we..????...fair balance..?? yeah, ok..Sean Hanity..!

 

[creature]

True. Hold down the .com button and you see .net .edu & .org. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Keith]

The new 2.0 firmware for the iPhone and iPod Touch includes a new Safari shortcut that goes beyond ".com".

According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, when you type in your web address you can now hold down the ".com" button to get the choice of three more extensions - ".net", ".edu" and ".org" - but no ".mobi"

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/15/iphone-101-hold-your-com-button-for-a-second/

So you mean we have more options for slow loading, scroll and zoom sites. Sweet!

 

[creature]

3g, but yes should be a mobi button, why not

 

[quality]

.mobi goes from bad to even worse. Let Pinky explain that one!

 

[domainer50]

So you mean we have more options for slow loading, scroll and zoom sites. Sweet!

Slow loading, scroll and zoom sites? What about a blackberry? I had 2 blackberries, and now have the Iphone. And let me be the first to inform you. The speed and ease of use with the Iphone make the blackberry look like a toy. Dont knock the phone, because mobi took a hit.

 

[Jeff]

iPhone and mTLD itself ... killed the "dot Mobey"!

.mobi goes from bad to even worse. Let Pinky explain that one!

We've been addressing the SERIOUS lack of candor, insight, actual substance, and helpful information from Pinkyard Brand and mTLD since his visit here, I believe, in November '05, IMHO.

The "dot Mobey" QUESTIONS and CONCERNS persist, to this day, and multiply ... and not one single soul - Pinkyard included - can adequately address these ongoing questions and concerns for the #1 Community™! :red:

The mandated development and mobile compliant requirements of the premium auctioned domains (including those such as "News.mobi" in which the RFP process was abandoned for GREED MONEY!) are not being strictly enforced as was promised ... and mTLD and the "dot Mobey" extension are facing serious accountability and credibility issues with this FACT, as witnessed again and again in these threads IMHO.
Visit "news.mobi" and "flowers.mobi" (among dozens and dozens of others - including premium acutioned domains!) to witness, first hand, the utter shambles that was to be the "dot Mobey" "ecosystem"!

Supposed "backers" are not backing ... and no tangible corporate / End user stand-alone developments, promotions, or adoption ... and no critical awareness with the public! It appears to have been a pure MONEY GRAB! :tri: :imho:

In my view, .COM will continue to be the standard for the one world wide web, including the Mobile Web© ... and this latest information above is yet another positive step in that evolution!
R.I.P.

-Jeff

 

[Keith]

Slow loading, scroll and zoom sites? What about a blackberry? I had 2 blackberries, and now have the Iphone. And let me be the first to inform you. The speed and ease of use with the Iphone make the blackberry look like a toy. Dont knock the phone, because mobi took a hit.

Not knocking the phone. In fact, I just bought one! Accessing
traditional sites still leaves me scrolling and zooming

 

[domainer50]

Not knocking the phone. In fact, I just bought one! Accessing
traditional sites still leaves me scrolling and zooming

Ah. I must have misunderstood what you were saying. In any event, I think that the online community as a whole, needs to work on converting sites to make them more accessible on mobile phones. Its a long road ahead

 

[labrocca]

So you mean we have more options for slow loading, scroll and zoom sites. Sweet!

Mobi fan to the rescue! Quick...protect your investment and downplay all the bad news and herald every single site that is dot mobi!

Jeez..get a grip.

Interesting that slow loading, scrolling and zoom are such a problem yet mobi IS NOT INCLUDED. Once again...you can't see the woods through the trees. Your lovable mobi isn't in the mobile heirarchy as you think. It was a concept born past it's time.

Speed improves.
Technology improves.
Mobi sits still and is stale.

 

[Jeff]

It was a concept born past it's time.

Speed improves.
Technology improves.
Mobi sits still and is stale.

^ This sums it all up in a nutshell! :yell:
Perfect and accurate description of mTLD and the state of affairs "dot Mobey! :imho:

-Jeff

 

[snoop]

So you mean we have more options for slow loading, scroll and zoom sites. Sweet!

I have found the speed and browsing experience to be very good.

 

[samb]

MOBI militia

It is probably a good time to dismantle the MOBI militia, and let the First Amendment prevail
:lol:

 

[quality]

yep .mobi supporters are on the run ....they are running scared....watch out Pinky they will be after you soon blaming you for the failure of .mobi.... when the truth is .mobi was useless in the first place. :hehe: :wave: :bingo:

 

[jmcc]

yep .mobi supporters are on the run ....they are running scared....watch out Pinky they will be after you soon blaming you for the failure of .mobi.... when the truth is .mobi was useless in the first place.

What will happen to your domains when .web is approved? I don't think that .mobi has failed. It is another niche extension. The upcoming Junk Dump (landrush anniversary) will clear a lot of the domains that could not be flipped quickly and then developed sites and general development should begin. Because it was a two year intial registration, the timeline for development is a bit skewed. However I do not think that .mobi is a .com killer or anything like it. It will become a niche extension like .info and .biz but as businesses become more aware of .mobi and the mobile web, then there will be more brand protection registrations. Among domainers, the expectations for .mobi were driven largely by .com speculation rules. Thus in domainer terms, the extension is a failure and most of the highly speculative domains are now dropping.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Keith]

yep .mobi supporters are on the run ....they are running scared....watch out Pinky they will be after you soon blaming you for the failure of .mobi.... when the truth is .mobi was useless in the first place. :hehe: :wave: :bingo:

You crack me up. Mobi is doing just fine as more and more companies
like Visa dev their sites using mobi. In fact, Visa now has not 1 but 2 live mobi sites.

BTW, I find it interesting that you make comments on an ext being worthless with a sig like that! Not a personal attack but it shows your thought process on what you find to be a good investment. I have also seen other naysayers, who have posted in this thread, make very poor decisions when they regged mobis and now feel burned.