.mobi Early Mobi speculators

[labrocca]

Just curious about how well some early mobi speculators are doing right now and how many have turned from bullish to bearish on the extension as a viable domainer investment.

Seems to be so little discussion in the area and lots of sales threads at very rock bottom prices. Even worse I don't see sales.

LLL.mobi's appear to be under $50 right now and still having tough time finding buyers.

I know many here have mobi's in the hundreds. I had I think 5 at max but I am only going to renew the single LLL.mobi ( DXD.mobi) just in case. The $10-$15 a year renewal won't kill me. However I have easily lost over $100 in just my handful of names. So those that invested thousands..how are you doing?

At time of launch and when mobi was hot it appeared that with every mobi sale the person reinvested back into mobi. With that type of investing strategy and todays market all that profit is probably now gone and replaced with a net loss.

Discuss but let's stay civil. I really want to hear more from those that were BULLISH and are now BEARISH than the same old crew of naysayers. It's doubtful any early naysayers have turned BULLISH in today's marketplace.

 

[namenut]

I did ok early after landrush in selling 80% of my mobi holdings.
A recent $1200 sale on a brandable mobi is the only stand out this year.

mostly quiet on the mobi front for me.

namenut

 

[labrocca]

Are you still investing though? Or have you moved on to speculate elsewhere?

 

[PVFARKAS]

Staff Edit - Trolling is not permitted. Don't be rude.

 

[dochlaggie]

Well, I will post here.
I have invested a few thousand $$$ with mobi.
I would have made over half to 3/4 the funds invested back from my developed mobi's . Mostly adult mobi's.The traffic to all of my mobi sites is growing monthly.
I have been busy developing as many of my mobi's as possible. This is just a part time hobby for me.
Development seems to be the key to survival for me anyway.

I still have great faith that the mobile web will be our future and for those that are able to weather this huge storm the rewards will be great.

Will be interesting to see what is happening in 5 years time.

 

[Blitzpotz]

Another outing by me. Estimated from today I came far too late into the DN space - I remember it was the news about the auction of flowers.mobi - and regged too many mobis with medium or bad quality. Ok, my problem and not necessarily mobi specific. (My case doesn´t really match the thread issue as I am no "early speculator" but who cares.)

As a personal note, mobi has opened the domain industry to me. I have found a new hobby, love learning about it and hopefully will own some good long-term investments all over the TLDs. Read again! Old domainers should acclaim that new trends, new TLDs like .mobi attract new people to invest into this market. The fundament widens which only can have positive effects for the branch.

I am German. In Germany we don´t know those rivalries between so-called naysayers and mobi fans, even .mobi is no competition for ccTLD .de people. We watch a growing mobilenet using all available possibilities of mobile browsing including .mobi sites. By the way: mobi sounds nice in German ears.

I am bullish on mobi. There are more used mobile phones than people in Germany. The broad majority of citizens has broadband access for a reasonable price. Germans love the iPhone and other smartphones. We already have flatrates for about $25 using the internet mobile. As in the beginning 90s the possession of a mobile phone was a status symbol for Germans (after the car of course), today and tomorrow the access to the mobile web will be a must. BMW.mobi for example hypes. The space for successful mobi sites besides mobile used sites in other TLDs is growing daily. Users don´t think about not using a website because it´s "only" a mobi.

I am sure that there will be two webs soon: the stationary and the mobile one. They will compliment one another. I also believe that the domain industry will survive the financial crisis. I imagine that .com will stay king. I don´t doubt that .mobi will own a valuable niche comparable to .org or so in a few years. And I feel that our grandchildren will use the internet without needing domain names. But don´t ask me how - if I knew that I wouldn´t post here.

 

[000]

Excellent thread, Jesse. Hopefully we can all stay on topic and not let this reflection go to waste.

I got into .mobi a bit late-- November-December 2006-- and was able to turn some nice profits for a good year or so after that time. Clearly over the last 6 months or so the prices have really tanked, but I'm not worried at all about my investments. Maybe I should be.. LOL.. but personally I have confidence that I've made wise investments along the way. I've sold a good number of .mobi's, and I've made a profit on all but a few. BUT the key here is making wise choices... I see soooooo many bad .mobi's it's ridiculous. If that's what your portfolio consists of, then yes, you have reason to worry about what's gonna happen to all that money you've invested... BUT that's no different than it is with any extension... .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .us, .me, .whatever. Some people will always pull nice profits, others will lose thousands. It's all about how wise you were with your choices...

It's also important to note that I'm a developer. That's one reason why I feel that my investments are safe. I buy most of my names with the intention of developing them and I usually have a specific development plans for each.... which is vital imho.

It all comes down to how wisely you chose your investments.... a lot of people saw high sales and got caught up in the hype (yes, hype) and registered anything and everything they could think of.... which is evident now that so many people are panicking and trying to get rid of their poor investments...

Anyways... you can't blame the extension for people's bad investments... happens with every extension, just take a look at the general domain marketplace... imho the mobile web is here to stay, and .mobi is here to compliment it; there will always be plenty of companies who are satisfied without using .mobi.... but at the same time there will also be plenty of companies who see a benefit in using .mobi... oh and there will never be a .mobi default button on mobiles lol...

My advice to .mobi investors (as well as investors in every extension) is to keep your heads out of the clouds and think about each of your investments carefully. Don't think to yourself, "Hmm I guess this domain would work for such-and-such a website".... think, If someone needed to buy a good domain for their business, would this domain be on their Top 3 list?


.

 

[scandiman]

Just curious about how well some early mobi speculators are doing right now and how many have turned from bullish to bearish on the extension as a viable domainer investment.

Seems to be so little discussion in the area and lots of sales threads at very rock bottom prices. Even worse I don't see sales.

LLL.mobi's appear to be under $50 right now and still having tough time finding buyers.

I know many here have mobi's in the hundreds. I had I think 5 at max but I am only going to renew the single LLL.mobi ( DXD.mobi) just in case. The $10-$15 a year renewal won't kill me. However I have easily lost over $100 in just my handful of names. So those that invested thousands..how are you doing?

At time of launch and when mobi was hot it appeared that with every mobi sale the person reinvested back into mobi. With that type of investing strategy and todays market all that profit is probably now gone and replaced with a net loss.

Discuss but let's stay civil. I really want to hear more from those that were BULLISH and are now BEARISH than the same old crew of naysayers. It's doubtful any early naysayers have turned BULLISH in today's marketplace.

Lot's of junk is dumping, economy is rough, get rich quick types are disappointed and moving on to other pastures. Still purchasing top quality .mobi domains that fit my long term development plans and also lower quality .mobi's that augment keyword niches I want to control. Have sold some and have put it all back into other mobi purchases that are a tighter fit for my goals. I'm not into commodity names like LLL, NNN etc so the price drops there are inconsequential to me. So accounting-wise I'm definitely a net loss currently but my focus is long term, the crop isn't ready to harvest.

I'm still primarily into com and mobi, the top two extensions IMO, one obviously proven and established, and the other still has a lot to prove.

 

[DomainTalker]

I've invested quite heavily in .mobi - and, remain bullish on the longer term outlook for .mobi.

Mostly, I've invested in Premium keyword .mobi domains - and, they will all be developed. I think domain speculator hopes (buying & flipping) will be disappointed from now, going forward. That's not where the value in .mobi will be, imo. I continue to invest in carefully selected quality .mobi names.

I remain convinced that .mobi will have a meaningful place in the mobile phone online world...

Yes, I remain bullish - longer term.

.

 

[dag]

I think I just about broke even on the money I invested initially in the 700+ .mobis I bought during the first year they were available, through fairly substantial sales of 20 or so names over the past couple of years. I'm currently in the process of very carefully selecting which names to renew as they come along, and which to sell or drop. I'd like to get it whittled down to the best 400-500 names when all is said and done. I've developed a few that have at least paid for their renewals (not making any big bucks that way yet), and I intend to continue with developing others when I can.

 

[vikrantjain22]

Just curious about how well some early mobi speculators are doing right now and how many have turned from bullish to bearish on the extension as a viable domainer investment.

Seems to be so little discussion in the area and lots of sales threads at very rock bottom prices. Even worse I don't see sales.

LLL.mobi's appear to be under $50 right now and still having tough time finding buyers.

I know many here have mobi's in the hundreds. I had I think 5 at max but I am only going to renew the single LLL.mobi ( DXD.mobi) just in case. The $10-$15 a year renewal won't kill me. However I have easily lost over $100 in just my handful of names. So those that invested thousands..how are you doing?

At time of launch and when mobi was hot it appeared that with every mobi sale the person reinvested back into mobi. With that type of investing strategy and todays market all that profit is probably now gone and replaced with a net loss.

Discuss but let's stay civil. I really want to hear more from those that were BULLISH and are now BEARISH than the same old crew of naysayers. It's doubtful any early naysayers have turned BULLISH in today's marketplace.

Till 6 months back I was buying all premium LLL.com's for 15-20K, today I am buying them at 10K. Does it show where the OVERALL market is heading. I invested heavily in .Mobi and today I have developed a fairly balanced portfolio for .Mobi, .com, .net, .org ALL THANKS to the my Mobi sales.

The portfolio has a ROI of 500% and yet my best 25 mobi's are still with me apart from the good number of LLL and NNN .mobis I hold.

Its all about your investment focus and knowing where to sell and where to buy. To give you a very small perspective in TODAY's DEPRESSED market also, The other day I purchased 15 LLL.Mobis and just by selling 8 of them I covered my entire cost of Buying. The rest I can easily sell for double the amount I bought them for, so you can easily calculate the ROI.

Why .Mobi becomes the specific target is beyond my understanding.

 

[labrocca]

Nice Dag...interesting to hear from someone with 700+ domains in mobi.

Why .Mobi becomes the specific target is beyond my understanding.

This is the mobi forum that's why. I discuss other extensions in other parts of the site. Target also infers an attack. That wasn't my intention.

vikrantjain22- You seem to have found ways to still profit not just in mobi but domaining in general and that's great. I am also turning profits still overall and I pretty much agree with your post that the current deals revolve around buying from broke speculators. I am personally waiting another month or two to see where this is all headed. I think we might see more declines as the Christmas season rolls around and the younger investors with no cash need cash. I love the under $100 market as I pick up a lot of great cheap bargains I can flip for a higher ROI.

today I have developed a fairly balanced portfolio for .Mobi, .com, .net, .org ALL THANKS to the my Mobi sales.

And I think it's important to note that this was the smart move. To diversify. It was obvious that selling mobi's was profitable but the question was for how long? And yes..you can get such great mobi deals that it's actually MORE attractive now to invest than before. You can get LLL.mobi's under $50 right now. However there were a lot of mobi speculators that were new to domaining with 100% mobi portfolios. That's dangerous imho and I always advised diversity.

Thanks for participating in the discussion everyone.

 

[-REECE-]

LLL.anything has been struggling lately. With .mobi being a speculative tld, it only stands to reason that LLL.mobi should struggle even more. The drop in .mobi prices lately hasn't really been all that much more than LLL.com which are down about 35%. LLL.mobi seems to be down around 50% in the same timeframe (3 months).

I'm not currently investing further in the extension, however I will renew some of my names for development purposes. Lost about 5k on the extension (if I count my current names as sunk). Not an overwhelmingly large number and certainly not something which would scare me away from investing at a future date.

The extension is still very much speculative and in these uncertain times, speculative investments are generally what get hammered most. I fear the .mobi aftermarket will struggle until the economy improves, however I see no reason .mobis bought at today's prices couldn't turn out to be excellent investments long term.

Markets adjust themselves all the time and I see no reason to hold the inability of .mobi to live up to the initial hype against it. Too many domainers don't see the whole picture...

Yes, there were a few delusional .mobi investors who thought $200k for Flowers.mobi would soon become the norm. But there are far more .mobi investors who are just looking for something that'll be a great investment long term.

It's funny how everyone says "Buy Low, Sell High", yet they all chicken out when things go low. We're seeing this right now with .mobi, we're seeing this with LLL.coms, we're seeing this with LLLL.coms, hell, if we open our eyes wide enough, we're seeing this with the whole domain name industry.

Where there is uncertainty, there exists opportunity.

 

[Pred]

LLL.anything has been struggling lately. With .mobi being a speculative tld, it only stands to reason that LLL.mobi should struggle even more. The drop in .mobi prices lately hasn't really been all that much more than LLL.com which are down about 35%. LLL.mobi seems to be down around 50% in the same timeframe (3 months).

I'm not currently investing further in the extension, however I will renew some of my names for development purposes. Lost about 5k on the extension (if I count my current names as sunk). Not an overwhelmingly large number and certainly not something which would scare me away from investing at a future date.

The extension is still very much speculative and in these uncertain times, speculative investments are generally what get hammered most. I fear the .mobi aftermarket will struggle until the economy improves, however I see no reason .mobis bought at today's prices couldn't turn out to be excellent investments long term.

Markets adjust themselves all the time and I see no reason to hold the inability of .mobi to live up to the initial hype against it. Too many domainers don't see the whole picture...

Yes, there were a few delusional .mobi investors who thought $200k for Flowers.mobi would soon become the norm. But there are far more .mobi investors who are just looking for something that'll be a great investment long term.

It's funny how everyone says "Buy Low, Sell High", yet they all chicken out when things go low. We're seeing this right now with .mobi, we're seeing this with LLL.coms, we're seeing this with LLLL.coms, hell, if we open our eyes wide enough, we're seeing this with the whole domain name industry.

Where there is uncertainty, there exists opportunity.

i agree to a large extent.
our Winston comes to mind for this:

"An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity, a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity..........."

Winston Churchill

 

[namenut]

Are you still investing though? Or have you moved on to speculate elsewhere?

Unfortunately reconstructive hand surgery has put me in a hold pattern and on the side lines. No development and very little investing.

Seeing a number of decent drops, sales at great prices it is particularly disturbing to be watching and not in the game. :td:

Once on my feet again I plan to develop several of my remaining mobis. I'll try to build value in development with the absence of demand.

I'm not ready to give up on Mobi with the economy as is. I'm not sure it reflects the desired atmosphere but rather a reserved management in funds.
I'll keep my mobi holding one or two more years. If the mobi market or use has not picked up I will most likely liquidate my mobi holdings.

namenut

 

[labrocca]

LLL.anything has been struggling lately. With .mobi being a speculative tld, it only stands to reason that LLL.mobi should struggle even more. The drop in .mobi prices lately hasn't really been all that much more than LLL.com which are down about 35%. LLL.mobi seems to be down around 50% in the same timeframe (3 months).

According to 3character.com:

June:
Mobi $150
COM $7600

Oct:
Mobi $65
COM $5500

Big difference imho. As you can see com appears to have dropped about 25% while mobi as lost about 60%. Pretty substantial.

One thing I will say in all seriousness. Now is probably the best time to invest in mobi outside of sunrise of course. All GOOD domains are registered now but you can get them now for 20% of what people were asking before. That's a lot of potential for upward momentum and speculating. It was odd at the height of mobi mania to see people buying so heavy. It's right now that any smart investor will look to pick up some deals. What kills many was that they did pay inflated prices and know their value has dropped. Some I believe will just be discouraged and overwhelmed by reg fees and start dropping names. Oh the opportunity!

 

[-REECE-]

LLL.com was way above $7600 in June, as witnessed by many domainers investing in them. 3Character was ridiculed on the other forum for it's outrageous LLL.mobi price -- it was sub-$100 by June, likely around $90 for a min wholesale.

"Finding a sucker who'll pay double what I paid" might be an effective strategy at this point for someone without any interest in the extension.

According to 3character.com:

June:
Mobi $150
COM $7600

Oct:
Mobi $65
COM $5500

Big difference imho. As you can see com appears to have dropped about 25% while mobi as lost about 60%. Pretty substantial.

One thing I will say in all seriousness. Now is probably the best time to invest in mobi outside of sunrise of course. All GOOD domains are registered now but you can get them now for 20% of what people were asking before. That's a lot of potential for upward momentum and speculating. It was odd at the height of mobi mania to see people buying so heavy. It's right now that any smart investor will look to pick up some deals. What kills many was that they did pay inflated prices and know their value has dropped. Some I believe will just be discouraged and overwhelmed by reg fees and start dropping names. Oh the opportunity!

 

[DomainTalker]

One thing I will say in all seriousness. Now is probably the best time to invest in mobi outside of sunrise of course. All GOOD domains are registered now but you can get them now for 20% of what people were asking before. That's a lot of potential for upward momentum and speculating.

Fair point....tho, the payoff may be some time away...

I've always seen .mobi as a longer term play - for all kinds of reasons (even without the complications of an imploding economy).

.

 

[webecri]

My story:

I invested $ 15,000 in PRE registering .mobi domains in 2006
Sold 15 domains for almost $ 100,000 until now. (Gamble.mobi for 33k...)

Invested in other .mobi domains, but 80% of the profit was my salary in the last 2 years. In that time I developed a lot of domains and they are my salary today...

In the Netherlands .mobi is doing pretty good.
3 out of the top 10 PC websites are actively promoting their .mobi version on their PC (home) page and these 3 .mobi websites are one of the best visited mobile websites of the Netherlands.

www.startpagina.nl - startpagina.mobi
www.buienradar.nl - buienradar.mobi
www.telegraaf.nl - telegraaf.mobi

These 3 parties are really branding .mobi in the Netherlands, and thats why my portfolio of Dutch .mobi's increases in value...

The only 'big' acquisition for me was Review.mobi for $ 3,600, but with some development this domain / website will be able to sell for more...

 

[GF]

My story:

I invested $ 15,000 in PRE registering .mobi domains in 2006
Sold 15 domains for almost $ 100,000 until now. (Gamble.mobi for 33k...)

Invested in other .mobi domains, but 80% of the profit was my salary in the last 2 years. In that time I developed a lot of domains and they are my salary today...

In the Netherlands .mobi is doing pretty good.
3 out of the top 10 PC websites are actively promoting their .mobi version on their PC (home) page and these 3 .mobi websites are one of the best visited mobile websites of the Netherlands.

www.startpagina.nl - startpagina.mobi
www.buienradar.nl - buienradar.mobi
www.telegraaf.nl - telegraaf.mobi

These 3 parties are really branding .mobi in the Netherlands, and thats why my portfolio of Dutch .mobi's increases in value...

The only 'big' acquisition for me was Review.mobi for $ 3,600, but with some development this domain / website will be able to sell for more...

What a great testimonial! Congrats on your big sales.

Why is it that .mobi has taken off so well in the Netherlands? I'd be interested in hearing about why there has been such great success out there.

- GF