.mobi Frank Schilling's take on .mobi

[ekal]

Respected domainer Frank Schilling gives his take on .mobi

http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/03/mobi_cashgrab.html

I think this registry is just a sales organization. They are selling hope for a .com redux. If it's not there (and its not IMO), lots of speculators are going to give up and let renewals lapse and complain about domain names in general. That's bad for the industry. In my opinion these guys are pick and shovel salesmen, selling said picks and shovels in an area with no gold.

 

[labrocca]

1. I am very chill..and I do take pills for that
2. I am not paranoid (even without pills)
3. Who said it drove me nuts?
4. My kids still believe in Santa Claus even my 9 year old because a couple years ago I went into an elaborate scheme to trick them into believing he exists. It worked. Fact is with the correct scheme you can fool anyone into thinking anything.

So a few domainers had overpriced expectations of some of the mobi names!

Ugh...maybe you should go and look at some of those polls and threads again. It's OVERWHELMING that the mobi enthusiasts thought the auction would bring mobi to an even higher level. It did not..so did it have the opposite effect?

My personal opinion is that I drive you nuts not the other way around. I like to debate.

Can you do me a favor and give me your take on the Traffic auction and what effects if any it has on the mobi market? It's heart of the discussion and I don't see many counter views to my opinions only counter-views to the fact that I have one.

 

[hawkeye]

My take is that, for an auction that lacked in endusers for any extensions, it was a so so overall auction with no earth shattering notations. Sure they may have sold more names, but that doesn't make it a success unless you are the one collecting the 15%. Most of the people that go to Traffic auctions, are those that buy names for traffic or speculation purposes. Until these auctions are geared more to endusers, and domain educated ones at that, they are really just a outlet for domainers to sell their names to other domainers. These are still the early years of domaining and the average joe blow enduser is just not the main buyer of secondary names yet IMO. And no, you don't drive me nuts, but you do have to admit that mobi domainers with high expectations of prices for mobi names, just irks the hell out of you!

 

[labrocca]

admit that mobi domainers with high expectations of prices for mobi names, just irks the hell out of you!

I admit NOTHING!

http://mikesnoise.typepad.com/noisepage/images/schultz.jpg

If anything it's more amusing to me.

Most of the people that go to Traffic auctions, are those that buy names for traffic or speculation purposes. Until these auctions are geared more to endusers, and domain educated ones at that, they are really just a outlet for domainers to sell their names to other domainers.

And do you feel this is also the problem here at namepros where this site is geared toward domainers looking to make a buck vs the actual end-users that are the ones that need to adopt mobi as a standard? Do you consider how you think more like an end-user or a domainer about mobi?

 

[Jeff]

Since, apparently, none of the Traffic .MOBI's ended up in the hands of actual End users who would then presumably develop, market, and brand (and thus perpetuating the brand of the .MOBI, as well) the domains / websites ... how is the "ecosystem" to survive and flourish, IYHO's? :blink:

Thanks for your thoughts.
-Jeff

 

[hawkeye]

I'm a salesman Labrocca, I try to think like both, so I can see the true value from both sides. And think about it, how many endusers do you really think come in here to read and post!! And for a 6 month old 'what new extension?'!! Why would I think there is a problem at a domain forum filled with only domainers??

 

[GeoOwners]

Since, apparently, none of the Traffic .MOBI's ended up in the hands of actual End users who would then presumably develop, market, and brand (and thus perpetuating the brand of the .MOBI, as well) the domains / websites ... how is the "ecosystem" to survive and flourish, IYHO's? :blink:

Thanks for your thoughts.
-Jeff

what percentage of "good generic".coms do you think belong to end users vs domainers/domain reits ? not many from what I've seen. Why would .mobi be any higher of a percentage in such a short time?

 

[-db-]

I admit NOTHING!

To amuse myself, I sometimes imagine Jesse's comments coming from Cartman on Southpark.

:lol:

 

[nrmillions]

Since, apparently, none of the Traffic .MOBI's ended up in the hands of actual End users who would then presumably develop, market, and brand (and thus perpetuating the brand of the .MOBI, as well) the domains / websites ... how is the "ecosystem" to survive and flourish, IYHO's? :blink:

Thanks for your thoughts.
-Jeff

It can flourish the same way as .com does. If I want a pizza I dont go to pizza.com which is just a parked page owned by a domainer. I would go to Dominos.com or PizzaHut.com. If I want directions I dont type in directions.com, i would probably go to MapQuest.com. If I were going to try online dating I wouldnt type in singles.com, I would probably type in eharmony.com or match.com. Just like I already said, who cares where these generics end up. All that matters is if the big companies end up promoting their .mobi names for their own brands down the road and that new companies with millions in funding start their sites on .mobi and promote it.

 

[labrocca]

It was commented in my blog that I don't know anything about marketing. I know one thing for sure. mTLD has done an amazing job of marketing to it's target audience of domainers. I bet they had a target of 200-300k registrations in the first year. Investors gave mTLD about $12 million to start off. That means they are grossing about $2-$3 million at least so far. Then add these auctions where they get to make another $xxx,xxx sum ($300k+ at this traffic) and the backers should be pleased.

I still don't see how that measures to success to end-users/domainers and/or helps market the mobi extension when most of the domains are owned by domainers that either don't develop and/or park. This auction wasn't the RFP they promised to domainers that bought into the idea of mTLD being a good-will corporation.

mTLD is machiavellian just like any other company...this auction showed that to me.

 

[nrmillions]

It was commented in my blog that I don't know anything about marketing. I know one thing for sure. mTLD has done an amazing job of marketing to it's target audience of domainers. I bet they had a target of 200-300k registrations in the first year. Investors gave mTLD about $12 million to start off. That means they are grossing about $2-$3 million at least so far. Then add these auctions where they get to make another $xxx,xxx sum ($300k+ at this traffic) and the backers should be pleased.

I still don't see how that measures to success to end-users/domainers and/or helps market the mobi extension when most of the domains are owned by domainers that either don't develop and/or park. This auction wasn't the RFP they promised to domainers that bought into the idea of mTLD being a good-will corporation.

mTLD is machiavellian just like any other company...this auction showed that to me.

Obviously their goal is to make money. They arent a non profit or a charity. You just figured that out just now after this auction? They are a business. They probably havent made very much money yet. I am sure they have huge expenses to pay such as salaries and stuff. I am sure they will end up making a fortune eventually though. I could care less how many millions they make, as long as I am making money too.

 

[Jeff]

... what percentage of "good generic".coms do you think belong to end users vs domainers/domain reits ? not many from what I've seen. Why would .mobi be any higher of a percentage in such a short time?

Before Pinky and .MOBI, how many times have you heard the term (and importance of), "ecosystem" IYHO? :blink:

Thanks for the assist.
-Jeff

 

[labrocca]

To amuse myself, I sometimes imagine Jesse's comments coming from Cartman on Southpark.

:lol:

hehe...oh so you wanna play rough ehh! Take that Mr. Mobi! hehehe

I love South Park so much...incredible show.

/back to topic


http://www.domisfera.com/interview-pinkard-alan-brand-dotmobi-mobi-domains/

I just reread parts of that which was directly after the last Traffic auction which created a LOT of buzz around mobi and pretty much launched it with the flowers.mobi sale. Reading some of Pinky Brands comments it's really intriguing today.

I also want to ask why did mobi change from a 2 year minimum registration to 1 year? Isn't that just asking for speculators to come in?

 

[goodkarmaco]

I have to say I am in full agreement of Hawkeyes fine assessment of .mobis selling, only adding that I saw the trend applied to .coms sold too.

Many, many .mobis sold for a decent, although not high price. Why would they? If they did, it would show the name has a high possibilty for being a flop. The fact that .coms selling for $2,000 had a fair amount of simalar like keywords in the.mobi selling for that amount too. What a champ the little .mobi is having many keyword like names selling after only be regged for a few months in simalar prices as the .coms. Don't get me wrong here, I am not saying .mobi grossed as much as .com in that acution. But for an unknown actor it sure has my respect. Just like in the .coms scoreboard, the .mobi prices climbed as the keyword quality got higher.

In other words the .mobi blew my mind. It is only a few months old, as yet has few end users buying it, ( because the brand has not been fully marketed yet) and as the quality of the domain increased the sell price reflected that. What will the prices be when these domains are finally bought by the end users?

I think what Scandiman has said many times on this subject, and that is give the name some time. It will take a lot longer than most of us are going to wait for it to fly. Thats why we see the whiners in some threads. They have no loyalty to the extension. Many will jump ship when they hear some guru in the domain world curse it.

I am pretty sure most though will know to hang on to the names as branding will take a good while to expose its potential. I hope if the jittery types have some good names they sell them to me for cheap, I will sit on them until the market gets hot.

Seeing the results from Traffic auction makes me want to register more .mobi names actually. The auction for .mobi certainly was about what can be expected at this point of time. To think how .mobis sold at this early stage and mostly purchased by resellers, I have to say its not a dud. The names bought will prove to be a bargain.

 

[GeoOwners]

I have to say I am in full agreement of Hawkeyes fine assessment of .mobis selling, only adding that I saw the trend applied to .coms sold too.

Many, many .mobis sold for a decent, although not high price. Why would they? If they did, it would show the name has a high possibilty for being a flop. The fact that .coms selling for $2,000 had a fair amount of simalar like keywords in the.mobi selling for that amount too. What a champ the little .mobi is having many keyword like names selling after only be regged for a few months in simalar prices as the .coms. Don't get me wrong here, I am not saying .mobi grossed as much as .com in that acution. But for an unknown actor it sure has my respect. Just like in the .coms scoreboard, the .mobi prices climbed as the keyword quality got higher.

In other words the .mobi blew my mind. It is only a few months old, as yet has few end users buying it, ( because the brand has not been fully marketed yet) and as the quality of the domain increased the sell price reflected that. What will the prices be when these domains are finally bought by the end users?

I think what Scandiman has said many times on this subject, and that is give the name some time. It will take a lot longer than most of us are going to wait for it to fly. Thats why we see the whiners in some threads. They have no loyalty to the extension. Many will jump ship when they hear some guru in the domain world curse it.

I am pretty sure most though will know to hang on to the names as branding will take a good while to expose its potential. I hope if the jittery types have some good names they sell them to me for cheap, I will sit on them until the market gets hot.

Seeing the results from Traffic auction makes me want to register more .mobi names actually. The auction for .mobi certainly was about what can be expected at this point of time. To think how .mobis sold at this early stage and mostly purchased by resellers, I have to say its not a dud. The names bought will prove to be a bargain.

and to think only about 13 of 5600 premium names have been released by mtld...

 

[Lasher]

Can't you post without the need show your pompous side to belittle anyone or those who may have higher expectations than you?? You probably told your kids at 4 'there was no Santa Claus, so get with the reality program!!' Maybe staying in that house all the time is starting to get to you. Go play a few slots for awhile, and tip a waitress. Heavily too!!

That kind of attack is just unnecessary here. Seriously, go debate stocks on Yahoo or play WoW if you want pull that "resort to personal attacks because I'm getting owned on the subject at hand" crap, Namepros is better than this.

Think I'm an idiot and none of my business? Ask yourself why 12 months+ of membership, 500 posts, and one lonely little green bar.

And just to play the other side of this a little, no domain sold at Traffic was "cheap" and most of the Mobis sold for 4 or 5 figures, hardly a death spiral.

I'd care much more about the results if it had been a webmaster conference and not primarily domainers. The REAL big news when flowers.mobi sold was that 1800-flowers were bidding too, were any large end-user organizations at this auction?

that applies to 98% of the peeps ...

If I add a worthless one-liner reply will that make it 98.001 or was I already in the 98%? :hearts:

 

[hawkeye]

That kind of attack is just unnecessary here. Seriously, go debate stocks on Yahoo or play WoW if you want pull that "resort to personal attacks because I'm getting owned on the subject at hand" crap, Namepros is better than this.

Think I'm an idiot and none of my business? Ask yourself why 12 months+ of membership, 500 posts, and one lonely little green bar.

Lasher my comments were to Labrocca not you or anyone else. We've been going back and forth with each other, and from our pms etc., I don't think the two of us are too personally stressed with our comments to each other. And I'm not one that has to ask for 'reps' or whatevers to place under my avatar to make me feel important! Oooh I have bars and ribbons and all kinds of meaningless notations!! I don't even know what those things stand for, and couldn't care less! So calm down. I've never had anything against you or anyone else in here, it's just bantering. geez.

 

[labrocca]

Hey it's all good. I sent Hawkeye a PM after it appeared our discussion in public was getting a little too heated. He seems like a good guy to me. We just disagree and sometimes people lose their heads. It happens to the best of us. We discussed going to get a drink or something next time he comes to Vegas so I don't think there is any real animosity.

I do like to keep debates on topic though and this discussion has waxed and waned.

Maybe it's time to be locked? Not much left to discuss as far as the topic goes.

 

[Mobineer]

actually, some great points and POVs on this thread - and now that calmer minds have prevailed, no reason to shut it down ---

and no reason to hold grudges or ill will towards anyone ---

if you feel you (anyone here, dear readers) have stepped out of line with too personal an attack, I suggest PMs to the individuals to try to work it out --

 

[GeoOwners]

I think that T R A F F I C auction really "sparked" alot of people one way or the other...funny how each side of the debate sees it diff...such is life.

 

[mejcdj]

Oooh I have bars and ribbons and all kinds of meaningless notations!! I don't even know what those things stand for, and couldn't care less!

Yeah, what are they for? lol
I guess we should look that up, just for common understanding lol
Bars or no bars, I think you are an OK guy hawkeye