.mobi Capitulation?

[sf2010]

I think some people have started to give up on the mobi extension based on some "portfolio" sales.

For whatever reasons that are named in these portfolio sales, I can't help to think that it's a classic sign of capitulation in the mobi speculation market.

But before you get trampled in the "tulip bulb mania" exit, I would like to recommend the following:

1. DO NOT BE A lemming and start dumping names; get away from the herd mentality!

2. STOP registering ridiculous/stupid names. A quick way to double check is to look up COM, NET and ORG names to see if they have been developed (not parked).

3. TAKE A LOOK at your portfolio and select a handful of names that you are willing to pay renewals for next 3-5 years and possibly develop them

4. FOR VALUABLE NAMES that are not on the #3 list, start formulating sale prices that you are willing to accept to remove from your portfolio. Use Estibot or appraisals or something. Just don't be greedy. Remember, for you to sell your unwanted name means someone else has to see the value for him/her to take investment risk; conduct auctions with few names at a time

5. FOR CRAPPY NAMES (that you have honestly evaluated as such), list them on Sedo or some place but don't count on selling them.

You have a persistent nay sayer in the mobi forum as well as people who constantly hype the extension. Stop listening and start thinking for yourself.

Please don't take my comments as being condescending; I've made some stupid mistakes myself. As the saying goes, "there is nothing you can do about the spilled milk". My only goal was to help at least 1 person.

I still firmly believe that you can make money in the mobi market.

 

[sf2010]

It's good to see a lively discussion, but the main point I was trying to drive across was this:

1. You can profit from ANY extension, including mobi;
2. Start thinking ahead instead of having a "me-too" herd mentality;

Just like the financial stock market, you want to sell when everyone is buying and buy when everyone is selling. I surmise that good deals can be had during this chaotic time so get some cash ready!

 

[snoop]

No one's going to take you too seriously when your statement in bold
contains about as much validity as if breathable air has no real enduser usage.

What %'s of companies with an Internet presence do think are using .mobi domains?

 

[Steven]

I would also like to know what % of companies with an internet presence are using .mobi domains.

I know some companies just redirect to subdomain for people browsing through "mobile web". It's so that people don't get confused. They spend a lot of money to brand their .com or .someextension site, and imo, they want people to go to the site that they normally visit through their PC using a mobile device. When they do, they'll have scripts that automatically redirect to mobile version of the site.
I sometimes use zipcar.com services, and when I go to zipcar.mobi, I go to a godaddy parking page.
I just go to zipcar.com using my mobile phone, and I get redirected to a mobile version.
Sometimes, companies do secure .mobi like Bank of America.
If someone goes to bofa.com using a mobile device, they'll go to the same site as typing bofa.mobi (which inturn goes to https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile/ ).

Here are the factors that may affect .mobi value.
We have downloadable mobile browsers (ex opera mini) that allow users to surf any website. Mobile browsers that come with the phones are improving.
There are phones like HTC Touch, Iphone, LG Voyager, etc that are allowing people to go to any sites that they want without creating an error.
The cost of data plan for some wireless providers are going down. IMO, competition will soon make many wireless providers to reduce the cost of data plan (or even make affordable unlimited data plan -> already implemented in some providers like Bell with HTC Touch)

I think there will be more and more people browsing the internet through their mobile devices, but it's still uncertain whether .mobi will dominate or not. It could be that .mobi and tech will both be adopted by mobile surfers.

 

[newdomainer.mobi]

What %'s of companies with an Internet presence do think are using .mobi domains?

Snoop, if you don't mind I'd like to offer an analogy for your argument.... I have a simple one that even you & Teabag could understand

Saying that the extension (.mobi) has no enduser usage is akin to me asking what is the point of a 2009 calendar... I mean, as we speak I know that hardly anyone is using one so they must be useless! Right?

I will assume that you understand my point... :hehe:

 

[dag]

Saying that the extension (.mobi) has no enduser usage is akin to me asking what is the point of a 2009 calendar... I mean, as we speak I know that hardly anyone is using one so they must be useless! Right?

Good analogy...and continuing that, I must have the most incredibly useless domain ever: 2009calendar.mobi! :lol:

 

[Steven]

Snoop, if you don't mind I'd like to offer an analogy for your argument.... I have a simple one that even you & Teabag could understand

Saying that the extension (.mobi) has no enduser usage is akin to me asking what is the point of a 2009 calendar... I mean, as we speak I know that hardly anyone is using one so they must be useless! Right?

I will assume that you understand my point... :hehe:

I understand that 2009 will come (unless asteroid appears out of nowhere and destroys earth in 2008), and 2009 calendars will be used...

btw I think all the 21st century names like 2009.mobi 2010.mobi and so on are taken.

 

[snoop]

Snoop, if you don't mind I'd like to offer an analogy for your argument.... I have a simple one that even you & Teabag could understand

Saying that the extension (.mobi) has no enduser usage is akin to me asking what is the point of a 2009 calendar... I mean, as we speak I know that hardly anyone is using one so they must be useless! Right?

I will assume that you understand my point... :hehe:

I think the point I was making is somewhat along the same lines of what you are saying,

"Given the extension has no real enduser usage it can't really go backward in that sense but the pricing (that domainers were paying) was way ahead of itself in my view."

 

[Keith]

In my view the extension was being priced for fairly moderate success (which is looking more unlikely by the day). Given the extension has no real enduser usage it can't really go backward in that sense but the pricing (that domainers were paying) was way ahead of itself in my view.

You must mean it's looking gloomy for mobi because of the following...

*zagat.mobi on the latest iphone commercial
*Nokia getting 130 million hits a month on its 2 mobi sites
*NGC.mobi (national geographic) advertising their mobi on tv
*Hsm2.mobi being advertised on tv by Disney

The list goes on and on but I don't have all day. To suggest
that mobi is unlikely to succeed makes no sense at all.

 

[DomainTalker]

Well said, keith,


The view about .mobi I take is this:


(i) The mobile web (as a major - probably dominant medium) is a certainty


(ii) The place of .mobi within the mobile web is all to play for, right now.


End-user usage will be about what works best - in all ways. If .mobi technology develops faster and better - and provides a better consumer-user experience - then .mobi is what will predominate, in time. If something else meets the needs, then that will be the medium.


My point is that Corporate end-users will adopt the technology that the consumer-user wants to use.....and, right now, .mobi (the only solution specifically designed for the mobile web) has as good, or better, chance than most for being the thing of choice.


Investment prices paid today for .mobi domains too high?

I don't know....But, I'd like to have been in on the ground floor of Google....And, there were many, many who said at the time Google would never make it because Yahoo, Netscape, & AltaVista had the established search engine markets at the time....

...Google, of course, went on to be bigger than them all...Didn't it...?...

.

 

[pchip]

I don't know....But, I'd like to have been in on the ground floor of Google....And, there were many, many who said at the time Google would never make it because Yahoo, Netscape, & AltaVista had the established search engine markets at the time....

That's a great point. There's always going to be people saying negative things about anything. You have to do your own research and make up your own mind about things. I don't think that a couple of us domainers will matter much when the mobile web is pushing forward. It will be the end users and public who decide.

pc

 

[NewWorldArk]

What %'s of companies with an Internet presence do think are using .mobi domains?

The percentages at this point in the mobile namespace is entirely irrelevant.

This insignificant little company with "no real enduser usage" is banking on another 4 letter word, for it's mobile future.

Although Visa.mobi still is not Live currently, it's not the current percentage that matters, it's the future percentage that companies such as this one is banking on.

Visa Announces Investment in dotMobi

Visa brings to dotMobi extensive mobile commerce and payment capabilities, including solutions for contactless mobile payment, Over the Air (OTA) personalization, coupons and direct marketing.

“Visa’s strategic alliance with dotMobi puts us at the forefront of working with mobile operators and technology providers to develop practical and achievable best practices for the delivery of enhanced mobile commerce services,” said Patrick Gauthier, senior vice president of Visa International.

“This alliance, coupled with our recently launched Visa mobile platform, positions Visa to advance the adoption of mobile services that provide convenience to consumers and value for those within the delivery chain.”

Last year, Visa had registered several .mobi domains, including:

* Visa.mobi (June 12, 2006)
* Electron.mobi (June 12, 2006)
* ePay.mobi (June 12, 2006)
* PayMe.mobi (September 26, 2006)
* Plus.mobi (June 12, 2006)
* Prox.mobi (September 26, 2006)
* Proximity.mobi (September 26, 2006)
* vPay.mobi (June 12, 2006)

 

[snoop]

You must mean it's looking gloomy for mobi because of the following...

*zagat.mobi on the latest iphone commercial
*Nokia getting 130 million hits a month on its 2 mobi sites
*NGC.mobi (national geographic) advertising their mobi on tv
*Hsm2.mobi being advertised on tv by Disney

The list goes on and on but I don't have all day. To suggest
that mobi is unlikely to succeed makes no sense at all.

Well it makes no sense *to you*, and that would explain why your portfolio is full of them.

All the above examples are rather meaningless, disney has put up a site for one movie on a .mobi site and Nokia receives 130million "hits" a month mainly from China, how many actual unique visitors do you think that might be and how significant is this "preloaded" traffic?

And Zagat.mobi is shown for 2 seconds on an apple commercial. So after 18 months of .mobi being out there we are discussing two second shots in commercial, one disney movie and some "hits" data resulting from people's homepage being set in China? In the the scheme of things usage like this isn't saying much at all. How about all the major sites, Youtube, Google, Yahoo, Myspace, Microsoft, Facebook, aah are they have all gone with their regular domains m.*****.com etc!

 

[Keith]

Well it makes no sense *to you*, and that would explain why your portfolio is full of them.

All the above examples are rather meaningless, disney has put up a site for one movie on a .mobi site and Nokia receives 130million "hits" a month mainly from China, how many actual unique visitors do you think that might be and how significant is this "preloaded" traffic?

And Zagat.mobi is shown for 2 seconds on an apple commercial. So after 18 months of .mobi being out there we are discussing two second shots in commercial, one disney movie and some "hits" data resulting from people's homepage being set in China? In the the scheme of things usage like this isn't saying much at all. How about all the major sites, Youtube, Google, Yahoo, Myspace, Microsoft, Facebook, aah are they have all gone with their regular domains m.*****.com etc!

You fail to miss the point. The point is...these companies ARE using .mobi. They don't have to but they choose to. Why do you think endless corps regged their mobi...

polo
bmw
nba
nokia
national geographic
fox news...

The companies you mentioned use m.whatever.com for now. Unfortunately for them the phone companies backing .mobi may choose mobi as a default. This would be bad news for the m.whatevers. But even if those few companies never use .mobi...luckily for us there is a whole world open to the easiest and fastest way to navigate the mobile web.

Mobi is a brand that can co-exist amongst other mobile solutions. To say it is not succeeding is very naive :imho:

Many domainers are in the game to buy cheap and sell high. This is being done on a daily basis with mobi. A profit is a profit and the market is surely deciding that it likes mobi :hehe:

 

[snoop]

You fail to miss the point.

Thanks

The companies you mentioned use m.whatever.com for now. Unfortunately for them the phone companies backing .mobi may choose mobi as a default. This would be bad news for the m.whatevers. But even if those few companies never use .mobi...luckily for us there is a whole world open to the easiest and fastest way to navigate the mobile web.

People are still running this defaulting argument? Perhaps you can put a time frame on when you expect the .mobi backers to start defaulting addresses to .mobi?

 

[Keith]

Thanks



People are still running this defaulting argument? Perhaps you can put a time frame on when you expect the .mobi backers to start defaulting addresses to .mobi?

What's the rush? Mobi, along with the mobile web, is still brand new. We need to kick back and let things evolve a little before saying mobi is not succeeding. Everything leading up to this point says otherwise.

Now a question....what makes the m.whatever format any better
than .mobi? I think the two can co-exist depending on what a specific
companies needs are. This is why we are seeing different avenues taken by the big boys.

 

[dag]

Any company's current decision to use m.whatever.com is by no means necessarily a permanent choice. Should .mobi start to become the widely recognized extension associated with the mobile Web, and I think it will, any of these companies can at any point start using it and redirecting their "m." to their .mobi.

 

[snoop]

What's the rush? Mobi, along with the mobile web, is still brand new. We need to kick back and let things evolve a little before saying mobi is not succeeding. Everything leading up to this point says otherwise.

I'm guessing 3 years from now you'll still be waiting for the defaulting and saying much the same thing. There is no logic in handset operators defaulting addresses to .mobi, the benefit would be to domain speculators not users.

Now a question....what makes the m.whatever format any better
than .mobi? I think the two can co-exist depending on what a specific
companies needs are. This is why we are seeing different avenues taken by the big boys.

It uses the company's existing, already known domain.

Any company's current decision to use m.whatever.com is by no means necessarily a permanent choice.

I guess you could say this about anything, you can only look at what is actually happening though rather than hoping. When large internet players companies come out and all launch m. and .mobile sites I think it is fairly clear. Many of these companies are "backers" and have launched these m. sites since .mobi came out.

Should .mobi start to become the widely recognized extension associated with the mobile Web, and I think it will, any of these companies can at any point start using it and redirecting their "m." to their .mobi.

That is circular logic, "if it becomes popular people will uses it"?

 

[dag]

That is circular logic, "if it becomes popular people will uses it"?

Not at all what I said...read it again and stop manipulating my words to suit your needs. I said that if it becomes widely recognized -- and that can happen easily even without the companies that are already using "m." or whatever -- then those companies that aren't already using it can switch over at any time.

 

[Keith]

I'm guessing 3 years from now you'll still be waiting for the defaulting and saying much the same thing. There is no logic in handset operators defaulting addresses to .mobi, the benefit would be to domain speculators not users.



It uses the company's existing, already known domain.



I guess you could say this about anything, you can only look at what is actually happening though rather than hoping. When large internet players companies come out and all launch m. and .mobile sites I think it is fairly clear. Many of these companies are "backers" and have launched these m. sites since .mobi came out.




That is circular logic, "if it becomes popular people will uses it"?

The logic in the default is that mobi works better on a wide scale when using mobile devices. I am not saying it will happen but the possibility is there.

Your statement about large internet players using m.whatever is true at the moment. Good thing there is a world of business beyond these few companies...and many of them are using .mobi. So who's to say which companies are right or wrong?

 

[snoop]

Your statement about large internet players using m.whatever is true at the moment. Good thing there is a world of business beyond these few companies...and many of them are using .mobi. So who's to say which companies are right or wrong?

It is true about large internet players, medium internet players, and small internet players. The vast majority are not using .mobi for their mobile sites. Wrong or right is simply decided by what is most popular, over the last 18 months a clear trend towards subdomains for mobile sites has emerged.