.mobi Any potential in .mobi?

[knt]

So what's everyone's opinion on this extension? I've submitted some pre-registrations for the domain but only because it was free to do so. Should I fork out the registration costs if these pre-registrations are successful?

 

[fonzie_007]

There's potential in everything, but I'm not over-speculating on .mobi for the time being (however, some people are forking out some money to pre-reg).

 

[dgridley]

I think there is money to be made but primarily if you're willing to develop, not speculation.

 

[Grrilla]

I've pre-regged a select half dozen and have gotten trumped out of 5, so far, by the TM holder registrations. The terms I selected were generic words that weren't company names so I figured I had a shot at them but, that wasn't the case. Some companies are TMing the term + mobi, ie [example]mobi to enable them to register the .mobi domain. Although this has probably opened the door to some abuse, the names that I had queued that were, subsequently, registered were taken by legitimate businesses and not speculators posing as businesses so, I have no complaints apart from not getting lucky.

As my sig would indicate, I am high on the success of .mobi, as well as, the emergence of "mobi" as a common expression used, interchangeably, with mobile, which, is already taking place in the US.
Why am I high on .mobi?
1) Heavy hitters w/ deep pockets are supporting the gtld.( ie Microsoft).
2) Whereas, the other gtld's have general, *conceptual*, divisions based upon, proposed, usage and the the cctlds are divided by sovereignty and borderlines, .mobi addresses pragmatic, physical needs, which distiguishes it from all other gtlds/cctlds.
3).Mobi is not, merely, another conceptual category added to the gtld list to help, better, organize and demarcate the internet. .Mobi sites will be designed to be user friendly for the visitor who enters via a mobile device. Because the sites will be addressing the special physical requirements of it's users, in addition to providing a platform for mobile/mobi product related companies, .mobi has a VG chance of becoming the default "go to" ext for tapping into the net, via remote, mobile devices, IMHO.

 

[tm]

I think it will be used mainly for big websites that want a WAP version. For example i'm sure we'll be seeing things like youtube.mobi or google.mobi. People may get used to this format for phone browsing, and even if it doesnt exist they will tap in things like mp3.mobi and namepros.mobi :hehe:

It's got good potential, but i dont think we'll be seeing too many non-WAP-based .mobi sites.

So if you aren't going to develop it you'll be hard pushing finding a WAP parking page, and one that people will click on the ads through - mobile browsing is sloo-ow. Slower than dial-up. They won't want to be wasting time on adverts.

 

[nRnF]

Also got a dozen nice .mobi preregs still running

IMO .mobi will get a bigger thing.
WAP was to early for going mobile, and now .mobi is a well thought/regulated 2nd launch of the same idea.
and with nearly all mayor telecoms & manufacturers are inside the .mobi lobby
The aimed preinstalled browser on mobile devices that handels urls like RealNames _com tried to do for the www. will inshure the user gets right where he wants.
For especially designed PPC pages this is a good stating point

So there are some nice raw diamonds gone mobile...

 

[dgridley]

My thoughts as well.. one reason I don't think it's very good w/o development.

It's got good potential, but i dont think we'll be seeing too many non-WAP-based .mobi sites.