.mobi Do not be impatient... the story of MOBI and den.net.

[jeremyp]

I'm a long-term domainer and web pioneer. I don't post everyday, as I have a baby coming in 3 weeks and a full-time corporate job.

BE PATIENT
In 1998, I was a 24 year old MBA student. I had spent $10k in student loans investing in domain names (1996-1998). I was far beyond breaking even on domains, making money on PPC advertising - direct with specific advertisers.

I was looking in the online "space" (we used the word "space" at that time for everything - it was so cool), for an internship when I came across www.den.net. Den.net was a company launching around the premise that people would view original streaming video content on the web. They spent tens of millions (?) hiring talent and developing entertainment.

Unfortunately, the financial model just didn't work. Consumers just didn't have the bandwidth firepower to view the video properly. Den.net was 6-7 years too early, and, as it turns out, they could have achieved content much cheaper by letting the consumer create it (youtube.com).

HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO YOU
Den.net had it right in many ways - they could foresee the future of the internet with the importance of streaming video. They also realized that the internet would ultimately act as a substitutional content provider vs network/cable television. They were just too early and it was way too expensive to keep up their model while the broadband pipeline slowly opened up.

We're in the position of 1998 den.net. You and I both see the future of mobile. We have found a domain name extension that will likely be a popular alternative to .com in that mobile content world. And, like, Den.net we are going to have to wait about 5 - 7 years for technology to make the mobile web as interesting to content providers as it needs to be to attract consumer use.

CASH IS KING
Cashflow is important. Not all of you will weather the long-term speculation storm... and it will be a long ride. I purchased 200 names, sold 13, and I'll sit on 185-187 names for 5-7 years. In that time, I plan on spending $1,500-$2,000 per year keeping the registrations active.

Not all of you can stomach this. If MOBI is adopted to the level that I believe it will be adopted, those of you who stick it out (and genuinely have a good portfolio - generics that define industries or with good cashflow potential from PPC) will do well.

It's a long-term speculation play.

In the meantime, there will be sparks... Every month will bring news of development.

Dig your feet in very deep.

PS - If you have a portfolio with primarily branding alternatives, you might have to dig even deeper.

Sincerely,
Jeremy Padawer

 

[webecri]

You and I both see the future of mobile. We have found a domain name extension that will likely be a popular alternative to .com in that mobile content world. And, like, Den.net we are going to have to wait about 5 - 7 years for technology to make the mobile web as interesting to content providers as it needs to be to attract consumer use.

Another great post Jeremy, but this time I disagree with above mentioned point. For heavy content like video and TV you are right. But I think for sports results, weather, news, route, cummunities and of course porn, the current devices and operating networks are advanced enough to make our .mobi websites work fine. A small % will even be profitable is my opinion.

There a more people surfing the mobile web than we maybe think...

I hope for you and your wife you will have a nice and healty baby. Good luck

 

[jeremyp]

You could very well be correct.

There are at least 2 very important differences of the bandwidth vs mobile bottlenecks...

1) HARDWARE TURNOVER
Mobile phone hardware turns over much more quickly than computer hardware.

2) LOW COST TO ACHIEVE INNOVATION
Even with the hardware turning overquickly, innovation will drive consumers to purchase new, innovative phones - even if they weren't necessarily intending to turnover yet.

Also, the broadband DSL/CABLE vs dial up cost differential will not necessarily be in play in mobile.

We'll see...

I still believe we're 5-7 years off for the masses in US... with 3-4 years being early. Outside of the US, highly variable and most definitely sooner w/ some countries.

In the meantime.... patience.

Jeremy

Another great post Jeremy, but this time I disagree with above mentioned point. For heavy content like video and TV you are right. But I think for sports results, weather, news, route, cummunities and of course porn, the current devices and operating networks are advanced enough to make our .mobi websites work fine. A small % will even be profitable is my opinion.

There a more people surfing the mobile web than we maybe think...

I hope for you and your wife you will have a nice and healty baby. Good luck

 

[Brad|E]

Most importantly, congrats on the upcoming child Jeremy. I know I'm not alone in hoping that all goes well and that you are blessed with a healthy baby.

On the matter of .mobi, I will echo a currently running thread and many of its posters in suggesting that the success of the extension depends in large part upon the marketing strategy of its curators, and, even more importantly, those who are developing and with developed sites. We all know that .com sites can be rendered on a mobile phone. I currently use OperaMini on my blackberry and (without wanting to invoke a flame war about my loyalty here), quite honestly, it does a heck of a job making any site easily navigable. Speaking from the perspective of a mobile web user and not a domain speculator, I need a compelling reason to navigate to any site, but especially a site with an extension I've never heard of.

On to my suggestion, it is of course essential to continue to develop and collaborate on development techniques (which many on NP are currently doing--kudos), but also to start brainstorming and collaborating on monetization techniques and advertising strategies. In addition to the implicit financial duty of the dotMobi corporation to extend the reach of its brand, as investors we must also bear our share of responsibility for our own investments. In other words, don't rely upon dotMobi to make your fortune for you. Regardless of extension, a good site is a good site. The advantage of .mobi is that, in addition to the possibility of good sites (and I've seen some great ones from NP members), it offers the added benefit of mobile compliance--not insignificant considering the monstrous mobile audience ready to discover .mobi. Getting your site recognized is not, and has never exclusively been, the responsibility of the extension managers. Being serious about .mobi beyond the "I spent a lot of money on .mobi registrations and now expect Pinky and the .mobi task force to see to it that my ROI exceeds even my own expectations with little input on my part other than Sedo, NP, and DNF listings" means being accountable for your own success just as much as it does with any other extension.

I think much of our efforts should be focused on how to target users for the specific names we are working on. What I would like to debate and discover are the best techniques for site recognition and monetization. Where should I advertise? Is it worth investing in some print publications? Should I stick with adwords or is this approach hindered by the mobile platform? These topics seem to me to be a better expenditure of our efforts.

 

[name idol]

You could very well be correct.

There are at least 2 very important differences of the bandwidth vs mobile bottlenecks...

1) HARDWARE TURNOVER
Mobile phone hardware turns over much more quickly than computer hardware.

2) LOW COST TO ACHIEVE INNOVATION
Even with the hardware turning overquickly, innovation will drive consumers to purchase new, innovative phones - even if they weren't necessarily intending to turnover yet.

Also, the broadband DSL/CABLE vs dial up cost differential will not necessarily be in play in mobile.

We'll see...

I still believe we're 5-7 years off for the masses in US... with 3-4 years being early. Outside of the US, highly variable and most definitely sooner w/ some countries.

In the meantime.... patience.

Jeremy

As always Jeremy: spot on!

I know you don't have time to read detailed expositions, so I'll just mention the phrase "free cellphone wifi in due course" and point those who don't have babies on the way to a current advertisement for BT (never thought I would ever have a reason to do such a thing, but there you go) - just to illustrate how the middle market is being educated in a country that's roughly half-way between Japan and the US in this sense:

http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/commercial/more_than_a_mobile/article1463319.ece

When I say mid-market and half-way in the same sentence, I'm not implying that we're anywhere near the mid-point of the journey, but hopefully at least in Europe we're reaching the end of the beginning.

On a much more important point, best of luck with your biggest project - really hope all goes according to plan, with or without a name-matching mobi!

 

[nombre]

Another great post Jeremy, but this time I disagree with above mentioned point. For heavy content like video and TV you are right. But I think for sports results, weather, news, route, cummunities and of course porn, the current devices and operating networks are advanced enough to make our .mobi websites work fine. A small % will even be profitable is my opinion.

i tend to agree with webecri in so far as i think these are areas which can catch on much quicker, i would also add another area which i think will possibly grow quickly and that is mapping which will be very big on mobi and a prime driver of the domain

jeremy, i assume you are referring to the development of the general/everyday use of mobi to do things that are normally done on pc but where we will see users do tasks on their mobiles?? this is where the keywords that are not tightly focussed on mobile use will start to mature ??

as distinct from "made for mobile" applications like mapping, directions, sports, weather, video clips, movie trailers, games etc which i think will mature quicker than 5-7 years (at least i _hope_ so)

i do take what i see as your main point, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme or method, it's going to take time to mature

it would be interesting to create a fictional pool of money and spend half on the market and half on mobi domains to see which returned the best by, say, march of 2012

 

[nrmillions]

good post. i think what will take time is for more people to have internet packages on their phones and to start using it. even i dont have internet on my phone and i'm all into .mobi. in the future, internet will probably just be included in the price of your mobile phone plan instead of costing extra and it will be unlimited use. once bandwidth increases and things like municipal wifi come out and all phones are dual mode with cellular and wifi then the number of mobile phone users who use the internet on their phone will skyrocket. once all of that happens, which should be in the next 5-7 years like you say, then .mobi could end up becoming a mainstream tld.

 

[mkylut]

^ It depends. I use my phone to browse the Internet everyday. At my university, we have free access to wifi network. I believe many students do the same thing.

 

[cyberken13]

control

Solid post Jeremy. Congratulations on your child. I know how wonderful that experience can be for a family.

As far as .mobi, I have also bought into the idea. I have a contact in the registrar industry who was at the last event in Vegas as a company rep. I spoke with him at length recently and asked him about the .mobi and its potential. He stated that he purchased many .mobis early on and sold a portion of them for a substantial profit. A few of his clients are some of those who have made the larger auction purchases.

Now, what I found interesting was when he spoke of the intentions of the major investors in this extention. They, in fact, do intend to make .mobi a default extension in one form or another; whether that is as type-in or as in search results on cell phones. He said that this is not only an issue of profit but control. Because, in order to accomplish this they would need their own TLD. They want to make sure that mobile formatted content generates before anything else. It makes for a better user experience which in turn will lead to more purchases by customers.

In an industry as large and profitable as telecommunications, to be able to control their very own domain extention has huge ramifications and possibilities.

 

[scandiman]

Now, what I found interesting was when he spoke of the intentions of the major investors in this extention. They, in fact, do intend to make .mobi a default extension in one form or another; whether that is as type-in or as in search results on cell phones. He said that this is not only an issue of profit but control. Because, in order to accomplish this they would need their own TLD. They want to make sure that mobile formatted content generates before anything else. It makes for a better user experience which in turn will lead to more purchases by customers.

In an industry as large and profitable as telecommunications, to be able to control their very own domain extention has huge ramifications and possibilities.

Now this would absolutely change everything.

 

[Pred]

Solid post Jeremy. Congratulations on your child. I know how wonderful that experience can be for a family.

As far as .mobi, I have also bought into the idea. I have a contact in the registrar industry who was at the last event in Vegas as a company rep. I spoke with him at length recently and asked him about the .mobi and its potential. He stated that he purchased many .mobis early on and sold a portion of them for a substantial profit. A few of his clients are some of those who have made the larger auction purchases.

Now, what I found interesting was when he spoke of the intentions of the major investors in this extention. They, in fact, do intend to make .mobi a default extension in one form or another; whether that is as type-in or as in search results on cell phones. He said that this is not only an issue of profit but control. Because, in order to accomplish this they would need their own TLD. They want to make sure that mobile formatted content generates before anything else. It makes for a better user experience which in turn will lead to more purchases by customers.

In an industry as large and profitable as telecommunications, to be able to control their very own domain extention has huge ramifications and possibilities.

excuse me whilst i do a cartwheel.mobi
:blink: :blink: :blink:

 

[GeoOwners]

In an industry as large and profitable as telecommunications, to be able to control their very own domain extention has huge ramifications and possibilities.

I have believed all along this is why samsung bought so many i-.mobi names...


.

 

[nombre]

They, in fact, do intend to make .mobi a default extension in one form or another; whether that is as type-in or as in search results on cell phones. He said that this is not only an issue of profit but control. Because, in order to accomplish this they would need their own TLD. They want to make sure that mobile formatted content generates before anything else. It makes for a better user experience which in turn will lead to more purchases by customers.

since i have believed this firmly from day 1 it is really good news to hear your confirmation from your source

it makes absolutely no sense technologically or from a competitive standpoint and especially from the user experience point-of-view to create the mobi tld and then to fail to give it pride of place on mobile phones, it makes no sense,

excellent news !

 

[izo-pod]

I don't want to be the bad guy here, but I don't believe .mobi will become a default extension on mobile phones. If they did, the porn operators move in so fast it would happen overnight. Manufacturers wouldn't like this at all...Nor would any of us.

Blame it on porn.

I do think some heavy advertising of .mobi will be forthcoming. Nokia, is promoting it's Nokia.mobi which is a very good start.

 

[Keith]

I don't want to be the bad guy here, but I don't believe .mobi will become a default extension on mobile phones. If they did, the porn operators move in so fast it would happen overnight. Manufacturers wouldn't like this at all...Nor would any of us.

Blame it on porn.

I do think some heavy advertising of .mobi will be forthcoming. Nokia, is promoting it's Nokia.mobi which is a very good start.

Porn is going to be huge on mobile anyway. May as well have a default for easy access to everything else. Its unfolding right before our very eyes! :kickass:

keithmt

 

[oxford11]

I don't want to be the bad guy here, but I don't believe .mobi will become a default extension on mobile phones. If they did, the porn operators move in so fast it would happen overnight. Manufacturers wouldn't like this at all...Nor would any of us.

Blame it on porn.

I do think some heavy advertising of .mobi will be forthcoming. Nokia, is promoting it's Nokia.mobi which is a very good start.

You figure .mobi will have the ability to check sites for compliance, maybe they'll have a watch list for porn, axing them out of search?!

 

[hawkeye]

Ok, but why can't/wouldn't they have a button for mobi, that is not necessarily a default per se, but a 'common use button' as, if mobi pans out as projected, mobi sites will be the most visited or used on a mobile device? Also how would porn undercut the viability of it, as you'd still have to first type in the address you were searching for, and you could still be able to visit 'dot whatever' sites?

 

[nombre]

I don't want to be the bad guy here, but I don't believe .mobi will become a default extension on mobile phones. If they did, the porn operators move in so fast it would happen overnight. Manufacturers wouldn't like this at all...Nor would any of us.

can you explain what you mean here?

i agree that there will be plenty of porn on mobi just like everywhere else

i don't get it ...there is more porn and there always be more porn on dot com than mobi so ...

why would an address that defaults to a mobi instead of a dot com create more porn ??

 

[izo-pod]

why would an address that defaults to a mobi instead of a dot com create more porn ??

I'm sure if you thought about it for a bit the answer would come to you.

However I will answer your question. If you make phones default to any extension those industries that make money on the internet would naturally want every type in domain name they could in that extension. This is even more true when we are talking about a device that is with us 24/7 and can go any where with you.

Could you imagine, if tomorrow all I had to do was tap in "Beds" to get to Beds.mobi on my mobile phone. Maybe I figured I would find information about beds at this URL. How long do you think it would take before the Porn operators would move in on those type-in key words? Not long.

What would seem to be an obvious function on a mobile phone as defaulting to the mobi extension, is really not when you look at the outcome.

 

[Zeeble]

You could very well be correct.

There are at least 2 very important differences of the bandwidth vs mobile bottlenecks...

1) HARDWARE TURNOVER
Mobile phone hardware turns over much more quickly than computer hardware.

2) LOW COST TO ACHIEVE INNOVATION
Even with the hardware turning overquickly, innovation will drive consumers to purchase new, innovative phones - even if they weren't necessarily intending to turnover yet.

Also, the broadband DSL/CABLE vs dial up cost differential will not necessarily be in play in mobile.

We'll see...

I still believe we're 5-7 years off for the masses in US... with 3-4 years being early. Outside of the US, highly variable and most definitely sooner w/ some countries.

In the meantime.... patience.

Jeremy

What you need to remember, however, is that in Europe (particularly, Germany, France and the UK) we have more advanced mobile internet technologies than in the US. For example, 3G technology is widespread which provides dial-up speed browsing on mobiles. 4G technology is soon going to be auction off to phone service providers, allowing internet speeds of around 30Mbps on your mobile!