.mobi Asked guys working in cell phone store "do you know what .MOBI is?" - Discouraging...

[MeanerDomainer]

They said that they did not know what .mobi is. Neither of them. One would hope that people selling smart phones would know... Although the sample size of my test is, admittedly, so small that it is statistically insignifficant, the result is still discouraging.
I plan to repeat the test at some mall kiosks sometime soon...

 

[hawkeye]

....the conversation we were having here before getting sidetracked was to do with Apple's web app directory with over X,xxx websites designed for small screens;
again, back on topic; how many of these websites are on stand-alone ".MOBI's"? :gl:

....:

Sorry ___, but that is 'your' conversation! The topic is - Asked guys working in cell phone store "do you know what .MOBI is?" - Discouraging... So instead of hijacking and distorting another .mobi thread, why don't 'you' STAY ON TOPIC.


..please forum gods, institute life time bans!!!

 

[Jeff]

... guys working in cell phone store "do you know what .MOBI is?"

Asked and answered;

It's really not that surprising to me that no one, practically speaking, outside of several .MOBI domainers has ever even heard of the clumsy extension. In a great sense, it really boils down to its marketing and (problematic / lack of) brandability ... :imho:

Just my two sense.

Onward and upward,
Jeff

 

[cosmik debris]

:

PS. Bank of America™ here is still actively promoting BankofAmerica.com/mobilebanking ... :gl:

Just my two sense,
Jeff

Let's explore this further ... here's what BofA is really telling their clients and customers.

" Bank of America Online Banking customers can also enjoy free Mobile Banking. Use your mobile phone or device to bank in several ways: Mobile Web or with Mobile Applications. All let you access your accounts whenever and wherever you want.

Mobile Web - Using the Web browser on your mobile phone, visit www.bofa.mobi to access Online Banking. You can check balances, pay bills, transfer money and locate ATM/banking centers.

Mobile Applications - Download free Mobile Applications for popular phones like iPhone®, BlackBerry® and Android™ devices. Designed to provide a customized Mobile Banking experience, they offer even more convenience. "

 

[NPQueen]

Last I checked this was a forum to discuss .MOBI not to decide who is a valuable addition to the forum and who is not. People have different opinions, they are not stating them as law, they are stating them as opinions. One of the great things about NamePros is the diversity of our members and the wide range of knowledge, skills and life experience they bring with them. I am tired of getting PM's from all sides of this. Get over it already!

If you can not keep to the topic at hand then don't bother contributing. If you don't like what someone says, take it up with them in a private debate. Stop dragging everyone else on the forum through the mud with you.

 

[scandiman]

Not even a question in my mind whether there is a need for mobile device optimized sites (or mobile versions of "regular" sites). After all, mobile screens are 1/10 or less the resolution of PC screens. Add possible dataplan limits and connection speed limits on top of that.

You'd think this is just common sense yet clearly some people still hold to the belief that there is neither a need or desire for sites tailored to the small screen and ignore the fact that most users want a tailored mobile experience. Perhaps they enjoy doing the zoom and scroll and waiting for large pages to load.

 

[Kate]

You'd think this is just common sense yet clearly some people still hold to the belief that there is neither a need or desire for sites tailored to the small screen and ignore the fact that most users want a tailored mobile experience.

I am not in disagreement with that, I'm just saying that there is no need for a separate extension.

Content negotiations techniques are as old as the WWW itself. Of course, many web developers lack knowledge of advanced HTTP stuff (you'd be amazed at how many don't even know the difference between LAN IP & WAN IP).
Still...

Technology is making leaps, mobile devices are getting more powerful and every single day makes the whole .mobi concept even more obsolete.

On a side note: in many of the countries I visit, the local ccTLDs dominate the landscape, far ahead of .com. There is little room for alt extensions. In America maybe it's different but I've never seen a .mobi being advertised. Oh wait I've seen one, it must have been thalys.mobi.

 

[scandiman]

I am not in disagreement with that, I'm just saying that there is no need for a separate extension.

There is no technical need, why does this matter? There is no technical need for .net or .org or even .com for that matter. Every TLD is a branding option. .mobi is a branding option for people such as myself interested in servicing the emerging mobile web user.

 

[Keith]

There is no technical need, why does this matter? There is no technical need for .net or .org or even .com for that matter. Every TLD is a branding option. .mobi is a branding option for people such as myself interested in servicing the emerging mobile web user.

So true. If we are talking exts for the PC the options are endless. At least mobi says something to the consumer (meaning its a mobile website).

I could pay 6 figures for a great .com and make a pc formatted site as well as a mobile or I could pay xxx for the same keyword.mobi and produce a pc/mobile site just the same.

 

[Kate]

.mobi is a branding option for people such as myself interested in servicing the emerging mobile web user.

Alas I find .mobi ugly and unbrandable, suffice it to say it's nowhere on the map for me and pretty much everybody I know.

 

[Keith]

Alas I find .mobi ugly and unbrandable, suffice it to say it's nowhere on the map for me and pretty much everybody I know.

So you believe that only .com can reach a sustainable audience? Or is it that you believe extentions such as .net, .org, .info...can too? Because if you believe the latter then your arguement that .mobi is unbrandable holds zero weight. At least mobi speaks to a specific market vs. the alternative exts to .com which are all branded to the pc (which will become damn near obsolete due to apps and non-pc usage in the near future)! It's going to be all mobile and a tiny portion pc as time progresses.

 

[scandiman]

Alas I find .mobi ugly and unbrandable, suffice it to say it's nowhere on the map for me and pretty much everybody I know.

ugly is in the eye of the beholder and is pointless to debate. Declaring an extension unbrandable is illogical, everything is brandable, especially with a solid keyword to the left of the dot. As for whether or not you encounter .mobi in daily life, its insanely unrealistic to expect a 3 year old extension to have mass adoption. Many people I know are just waking up to using the web on their phones let alone what domain extensions are. Each day brings new awareness of .mobi, not nearly as fast as the zealots on both extremes demand but awareness is growing.

 

[Kate]

So you believe that only .com can reach a sustainable audience? Or is it that you believe extentions such as .net, .org, .info...can too?

I believe that today the landscape is about .com/ccTLD, at least in Europe. The rest are more like fringe extensions, in particular when it's not CNO.
Again it depends on your location. In America .com still rules.
But the layman is as much aware about .mobi, as .name for example.

I am very skeptical of new extensions, they consistently fail to get critical mass, and even the more Internet-savvy people are often unaware they even exist. Basically we have niche extensions geared to niche markets.

 

[Archangel]

From my PoV, his point was simply that it was disappointing to see ppl who sell products being unaware of the product's tld. Think about it: these ppl sell mobile phones. This analogy isn't quite the same in strength but imagine if an Internet user didn't know the existence of .com. That would be far-fetched and hard to swallow, I know. That's not the point; the point is that had you met such a person, you'd be sad considering that you'd have figured them to know what a .com is. He asked some ppl in the industry (albeit only mobile phone sellers) about it and they had no idea what .mobi is. That was the point. He acknowledged that he wasn't making a huge point statistically. He simply asked a few who didn't know. He found it disappointing. That's it. Movies over. Fade to black.

And I'm aware that this thread is a bit old. lol

So you did your little sample at the cell phone store and the clerks didn't know about a domain extension. What is it you are concluding?

A- The cell phone sales people are ignorant because they don't know about a domain extension for mobile web; or...

B- .mobi is a bad investment for domainers because the cell phone sales people you talked to were ignorant of .mobi; or...

C- something else.

Finding a situation "discouraging" isn't a conclusion, it's an emotional response. What is it you are being discouraged from doing?

---------- Post added at 12:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 PM ----------

I agree on the first part.

But after 3 years, .mobi SHOULD have at LEAST left a dent in the industry, right? I'm not a .mobi hater. I just lost expectations for it.

ugly is in the eye of the beholder and is pointless to debate. Declaring an extension unbrandable is illogical, everything is brandable, especially with a solid keyword to the left of the dot. As for whether or not you encounter .mobi in daily life, its insanely unrealistic to expect a 3 year old extension to have mass adoption.

 

[hawkeye]

I guess it's just domainers that must live in the 'knowledge bubble'. I asked a salesman at a TV store if he knew what '.tv' was, and he told me they were "against the back wall"! You'd think that after nine years....

..good grief!

 

[Jeff]

But after 3 years, .mobi SHOULD have at LEAST left a dent in the industry, right? I'm not a .mobi hater. I just lost expectations for it.

Precisely ... all three wheels fell off the .MOBI (pronounced, "dot Mobey") cart due to two main reasons;
1.) Long, clumsy, extremely awkward TLD ... HIGHLY problematic for effective branding purposes.
2.) Greed, arrogance and misguided management of mTLD! :imho:

Next will be cheapy $1.99 .mobi registrations from Afilias ... :red:

Nice post and kind regards,
Jeff

 

[whitebark]

3 years is 30 years in technology circles. To deny that is to deny reality I am afraid. Add in that people buying new cellphones aren't seeking out tiny-screened last generation ones - they are seeking ones with larger screens and modern browser software. A double whammy for mobi!

 

[Archangel]

Agreed. I just don't see how .mobi is supposed to ever take off. It has wings; it's just too damn stupid to ever try to fly.

3 years is 30 years in technology circles. To deny that is to deny reality I am afraid. Add in that people buying new cellphones aren't seeking out tiny-screened last generation ones - they are seeking ones with larger screens and modern browser software. A double whammy for mobi!

 

[whitebark]

If mobi came out two or three years earlier it might have really cornered the market but modern phones/browsers took the market before it had a chance to get its footing in place. It was the right idea - just the wrong time.

The mobile web is here and is the future - to that there is no doubt.

 

[Archangel]

It is. But I don't think many ever gave the .mobi a chance for it. The vast majority of buyers were investors. And when 90% (just an uneducated guess) of an extension's registrants are investors, there's a problem.

The mobile web is here and is the future - to that there is no doubt.

 

[scandiman]

From my PoV, his point was simply that it was disappointing to see ppl who sell products being unaware of the product's tld. Think about it: these ppl sell mobile phones. This analogy isn't quite the same in strength but imagine if an Internet user didn't know the existence of .com.

Actually it is more like a computer sales person not knowing .com, which in the early days of the internet was a regular thing since most PC users didn't even use the internet.

Around when .mobi launched I was at a cell phone store and asking about phones that can browse the web. The people there only knew of one device in the store that did when in fact at least 1/2 the phones there did. They were ignorant of their own products, much like most sales people I've met, and didn't seem to care. Ever go to a car dealership and start asking about the options list on a model beyond the paint colors? Sales people in large part are sadly ignorant and more interested in finding another line of work than learning details of their own products.

I was at cell phone stores again a few months ago asking about devices that browse the web (hoping to do some of my own site testing from a multitude of devices) and still the people there only can point to a few devices that are marketed for browsing the web when in fact most every device in a cell phone store today will browse the web. They don't know their own products so why should I or anyone else care that they don't know a domain extension?

---------- Post added at 10:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:29 AM ----------

I'm not a .mobi hater...

...It has wings; it's just too damn stupid to ever try to fly.

You're obviously not an enthusiast either.

 

[Archangel]

You shouldn't. As you and many others pointed out, ppl typically have little to no clue as to the products they sell. We shouldn't be surprised but it's still a sad thing no matter how you say it.

I'm not an enthusiast but I'm not a hater. I was a .mobi advocate a year ago but after waiting and waiting, the ext hasn't hasn't done a thing. It's hard to cheer for something that just stalls 24/7/365.

They don't know their own products so why should I or anyone else care that they don't know a domain extension?

---------- Post added at 10:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:29 AM ----------





You're obviously not an enthusiast either.

 

[scandiman]

I'm not an enthusiast but I'm not a hater. I was a .mobi advocate a year ago but after waiting and waiting, the ext hasn't hasn't done a thing. It's hard to cheer for something that just stalls 24/7/365.

Perhaps this isn't the right thread for this but I'd appreciate clarification on what your interests and expectations of the .mobi extension were? Was it simply a matter of you buying .mobi domains for flipping in domainer forums and the get rich profits didn't come in one year so you gave up?

 

[Archangel]

That's a good question. My expectations were for it to come into this world, stand on its own legs and become a valuable asset to the mobile community (as it was made to be). It came, yes, but the other 2 things I mentioned has yet to occur. I was a heavy advocate of the .mobi (remember this thread?) but I was holding expectations that it would PERFORM in one fashion or another. But a year after the above-linked thread was made, .mobi is still sitting in a corner, doing absolutely nothing. Don't get me wrong: I may be retired but if I saw a great .mobi, I'd jump on it. But it'd have to be a really good one to pique my interest. I wasn't expecting .mobi to become a major player within a few short years but I was expecting it to perform in some way. It just hasn't done anything noteworthy since its incarnation.

Perhaps this isn't the right thread for this but I'd appreciate clarification on what your interests and expectations of the .mobi extension were? Was it simply a matter of you buying .mobi domains for flipping in domainer forums and the get rich profits didn't come in one year so you gave up?

 

[scandiman]

I was a heavy advocate of the .mobi (remember this thread?) but I was holding expectations that it would PERFORM in one fashion or another.

When you say "perform" are you referring to the return on your .mobi domain speculation investments?

I recall that thread, even posted in it about my preference to focus on quality domains rather than random junk LLL. Was random LLL your main .mobi investment angle? If so I can understand your perspective that it didn't perform. Some got lucky but the domainer angle on LLL.mobi was really skewed by a few large speculators. When one guy drops thousands at once it floods the market and tanks the pricing. Probably won't stabilize for another few years at least until those LLL are spread around into more hands. Regardless I'm still not a random LLL fan. I have several LLL.mobi but they are readily understood acronyms and/or abbreviations and are for future projects. (4WD, BBQ, ATL, JFK, CEU, DFW and more). If those properly built and promoted sites don't provide a return on my investment then in those instances I would have to agree that LLL.mobi didn't perform for me.

It just hasn't done anything noteworthy since its incarnation.

I guess that's in the eye of the beholder. Some .mobi sites I use on a regular basis from my mobile phone are espn.mobi, foxnews.mobi, chase.mobi, bofa.mobi and weather.mobi, all of which IMO are more than noteworthy and add value to the mobile web as a whole. My business partner and I put a lot of investment into launching, improving and growing our Lodging.mobi project and have more on the way, plus other upstarts have built and are earning real money from their .mobi websites in industries ranging from adult to geo, again all of which add real value to the mobile web as a whole. Companies, organizations and celebrities have and continue to build and launch .mobi websites, a handful that come to mind are nokia.mobi, bmw.mobi, DHL.mobi, HERTZ.mobi, aspca.mobi, WWF.mobi, NBA.mobi, deronwilliams.mobi, nypost.mobi, and so many more.

To say nothing noteworthy has happened since .mobi launched means either your expectations were utterly unrealistically high or you are looking in the wrong places for information.

How all of this impacts the domain speculation of .mobi is unclear, so much more impacts that market like parking revenue (or lack thereof) and the overall willingness of others to pay high prices for .mobi domains. turning reg fee into $xxx may fund a hobby but it takes a lot more to fund a living.

 

[Archangel]

I would give you a long-ish reply but you said it well on your own. Focusing on things like LLL.mobi isn't the way to go -- it's keywords. I dare anyone to tell me that banking.mobi is worthless/reg fee. To answer your question: "Perform" was referring to the domain extension's overall usage and acceptance. It may be in the eye of the beholder, perhaps, but my point was centered at the thought that .mobi is seldom developed. There are some (you listed a few) but that's a small percentage. I've seen thousands of developed .infos (mostly minisites though) and many .nets. But (and Jeff had pointed this out numerous times) most ppl do not develop them, merely using them as redirects. So when I say the ext hasn't done anything notable, that was speaking in proportion between .mobis regged and .mobis developed.

When you say "perform" are you referring to the return on your .mobi domain speculation investments?

I recall that thread, even posted in it about my preference to focus on quality domains rather than random junk LLL. Was random LLL your main .mobi investment angle? If so I can understand your perspective that it didn't perform. Some got lucky but the domainer angle on LLL.mobi was really skewed by a few large speculators. When one guy drops thousands at once it floods the market and tanks the pricing. Probably won't stabilize for another few years at least until those LLL are spread around into more hands. Regardless I'm still not a random LLL fan. I have several LLL.mobi but they are readily understood acronyms and/or abbreviations and are for future projects. (4WD, BBQ, ATL, JFK, CEU, DFW and more). If those properly built and promoted sites don't provide a return on my investment then in those instances I would have to agree that LLL.mobi didn't perform for me.



I guess that's in the eye of the beholder. Some .mobi sites I use on a regular basis from my mobile phone are espn.mobi, foxnews.mobi, chase.mobi, bofa.mobi and weather.mobi, all of which IMO are more than noteworthy and add value to the mobile web as a whole. My business partner and I put a lot of investment into launching, improving and growing our Lodging.mobi project and have more on the way, plus other upstarts have built and are earning real money from their .mobi websites in industries ranging from adult to geo, again all of which add real value to the mobile web as a whole. Companies, organizations and celebrities have and continue to build and launch .mobi websites, a handful that come to mind are nokia.mobi, bmw.mobi, DHL.mobi, HERTZ.mobi, aspca.mobi, WWF.mobi, NBA.mobi, deronwilliams.mobi, nypost.mobi, and so many more.

To say nothing noteworthy has happened since .mobi launched means either your expectations were utterly unrealistically high or you are looking in the wrong places for information.

How all of this impacts the domain speculation of .mobi is unclear, so much more impacts that market like parking revenue (or lack thereof) and the overall willingness of others to pay high prices for .mobi domains. turning reg fee into $xxx may fund a hobby but it takes a lot more to fund a living.