.mobi Is .MOBI really dead?

[sky]

Hi,

I just reg'ed a couple of .COMs, and a friend suggested I get the .MOBI extension for the names to since it is also applicable for cell phones, etc...

But I'm thinking it's a waste of money and little use to me from the standpoint of making any profits in any form whatsoever, ever and even of little or no use to end users.

Is there any data to support or refute this bias I've developed based on hearsay over the past few months?

 

[snoop]

I do disagree with you in that you say there "no reason why .mobi names would get type in traffic of any significance other than the odd spillover type name"

The .mobi is being advertised a bit by a number of small players and few big ones. It is only natural that someone seeing an advertisement would type in the main keywords .mobi just to see what is there.

I think you need to appreciate just how popular an extension needs to be before people will start type in names in any significant way. Even .net which has been around a long time and is widely known tends to get low type in flow on even the best names. Something like .mobi just isn't on the radar of people naturally typing in names. Think bot traffic and typos on some rare cases only.

Think about why you don't see .mobi names being advertisied as having traffic, it is the same reason .net/.org/.info/.biz/.tv/.me/.dx names are rarely advertised as having type in traffic.

In short of you are registering or buying .mobi's in the hope of making money from type in traffic you are wasting your time and money, it makes no sense at all.

 

[Traveler]

I think you need to appreciate just how popular an extension needs to be before people will start type in names in any significant way. Even .net which has been around a long time and is widely known tends to get low type in flow on even the best names. Something like .mobi just isn't on the radar of people naturally typing in names. Think bot traffic and typos on some rare cases only.

Think about why you don't see .mobi names being advertisied as having traffic, it is the same reason .net/.org/.info/.biz/.tv/.me/.dx names are rarely advertised as having type in traffic.

Believe me, I do appreciate how poplular an extension needs to be to get type in traffic. I'm on the same page, only the real premium .mobi names will get much type in traffic. I don't think sex.mobi has been released yet by mtld, it didn't resolve for me just now, but I wage a bet that sex.mobi does get a decent amount of type in traffic. (that is sadly going to waste)

How much type in traffic do you think sex.mobi gets every month?

 

[thasis]

With the introduction of very inexpensive and very simple to operate .tel
unfortunately for you guys .mobi has no chance to compete.
Some good, strong domains will survive but the rest will be gone soon

 

[snoop]

How much type in traffic do you think sex.mobi gets every month?

Would guess 30-100 uniques per month.

With the introduction of very inexpensive and very simple to operate .tel unfortunately for you guys .mobi has no chance to compete.
Some good, strong domains will survive but the rest will be gone soon

The nutters are out today.

 

[bmugford]

Yeah, it is going to be .TEL that ends up being the .MOBI killer :hehe:

Brad

With the introduction of very inexpensive and very simple to operate .tel
unfortunately for you guys .mobi has no chance to compete.
Some good, strong domains will survive but the rest will be gone soon

 

[dag]

With the introduction of very inexpensive and very simple to operate .tel
unfortunately for you guys .mobi has no chance to compete.
Some good, strong domains will survive but the rest will be gone soon

Good lord. Please do your homework. There's no "competition" between the two, because they do two completely different things.

 

[mjnels]

I think you need to appreciate just how popular an extension needs to be before people will start type in names in any significant way. Even .net which has been around a long time and is widely known tends to get low type in flow on even the best names. Something like .mobi just isn't on the radar of people naturally typing in names. Think bot traffic and typos on some rare cases only.

Think about why you don't see .mobi names being advertisied as having traffic, it is the same reason .net/.org/.info/.biz/.tv/.me/.dx names are rarely advertised as having type in traffic.

In short of you are registering or buying .mobi's in the hope of making money from type in traffic you are wasting your time and money, it makes no sense at all.

exactly..

early on, people would have discussions about their undeveloped .mobi ppc stats... its like who cares.. there is virtually no natural type-in traffic to undeveloped names. im here to tell you. and counting on such to happen anytime in the future is just a bad reason to buy .mobi domains...

 

[mo_dork]

Most of the .mobi for sale threads I see are just a bunch of trash that couldn't earn the reg fee even in the .com. However, if there are .mobi names out that that earn there reg fee on parking, that says something.

I know many people with Premium generic mobi domains, most are not waiting around for parking revenues to increase. The thing that people are missing here is that the mobile web is in its infancy right now. Certain owners of premium generic mobis find themselves possibly in a similar place where certain owners of dotcom generics found themselves in 8 years ago. There is a huge new market and new medium about to explode and if you play your development cards right you could end up being extremely timely and extremely successful.

So the lack of availability of decent mobi names on the sales threads means one thing, people are keeping hold of what they have, either for development reasons, or because they understand that as the mobile internet grows, so will the value of their mobi investments. There is no point in selling now, especially in this recession.

 

[corgi]

.Mobi is NOT dead...


It's Beyyyoooondd dead.

 

[snoop]

The thing that people are missing here is that the mobile web is in its infancy right now. Certain owners of premium generic mobis find themselves possibly in a similar place where certain owners of dotcom generics found themselves in 8 years ago.

It is always the way, people hope for history to repeat. If you read the .tv forum much the same argument has been made for nearly a decade, just replace the words ".tv" with ".mobi" and "Internet video explosion" with "Mobile internet explosion". Well Internet video did explode, but it did very little for .tv speculators. Why? Because the vast majority of video focused sites still just use .com and country codes. A revolution doesn't require a new extension.

So the lack of availability of decent mobi names on the sales threads means one thing, people are keeping hold of what they have, either for development reasons, or because they understand that as the mobile internet grows, so will the value of their mobi investments. There is no point in selling now, especially in this recession.

All it really means is that most people own junk, then again some people will try to put a positive spin on just about anything.

 

[scandiman]

Yet another is mobi dead thread :lol:

 

[mo_dork]

It is always the way, people hope for history to repeat.

Its hope, if you sit around and wait. If you develop its not hope.

All it really means is that most people own junk, then again some people will try to put a positive spin on just about anything.

Most people do own junk and there is no hope for them.

 

[snoop]

Its hope, if you sit around and wait. If you develop its not hope.

I don't quite follow this since you said,

"Certain owners of premium generic mobis find themselves possibly in a similar place where certain owners of dotcom generics found themselves in 8 years ago."

Is that not a statement of "hope"?

I think I have probably said this dozens of times now, but development really has nothing much to do with domaining. It is often just trundled by domainers as a magical strategy when no other options exist. There is nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't automatically make the domain purchase a good decision in of itself.

 

[mo_dork]

You're right domaining and development are different beasts. A lot of the talk on the other mobility forum relates to development. I think many of the folks over there initially invested in mobis for the usual domaining reasons but have become immersed in the world of the mobile web and realized there is potentially more lucrative business model than parking and flipping.

Development for many is not a 'magical strategy', its realizing that you have the possibility to build a genuine business in a fledgeling medium.

Regarding 'hope' its called RISK, every business venture typically has an element of this. So you do your research. My research tells me that the mobile web will be huge and .mobi websites will ubiquitous.

Contrary to a lot of the talk here, I would say there is positive news regarding mobi usage being reported every single day.

 

[snoop]

I think many of the folks over there initially invested in mobis for the usual domaining reasons but have become immersed in the world of the mobile web and realized there is potentially more lucrative business model than parking and flipping.

This is putting it kindly, for most people it is stating the obvious to say "potentially more lucrative business model than parking and flipping" because as far as .mobi goes there is basically no money in parking and almost no money in flipping as well. With declining prices and no traffic development is seen as the only option for many. I put a huge question mark though next to the "only option" for these names actually being a "good option" most of the time.

Regarding 'hope' its called RISK, every business venture typically has an element of this.

Is it realistic though to hope for simply a repeat of what happened with .com though?

"Certain owners of premium generic mobis find themselves possibly in a similar place where certain owners of dotcom generics found themselves in 8 years ago."

 

[mo_dork]

But you are judging on the current returns. This is a TLD for the future. You have to wait for the mobile web to become a reality. Do you agree that in 5 years substantially more people will be surfing the web via their mobile devices than via pc's?

I personally didn't invest in .tel, beyond my actual name, but if I did, It is obvious that it will take several years before that investment will pay off. Mobi is just 2 years old, it needs more time to mature.

 

[snoop]

But you are judging on the current returns. This is a TLD for the future. You have to wait for the mobile web to become a reality. Do you agree that in 5 years substantially more people will be surfing the web via their mobile devices than via pc's?

The mobile web is already a reality though I agree it will be far more popular in 5 years time. However in 5 years time I do not think .mobi domain owners will have seen a good return either. I think one needs to sperate one issue from the other, growth in the mobile internet and price growth for .mobi domains are very different issues.

Mobi is just 2 years old, it needs more time to mature.

That is the "never ending story" in domain land for alt tlds, "it just needs a few more years". In another 5 years time people will be saying wait a while longer, just like they said with .tv, .info, .us etc. The chorus grows weaker each year but never really ends..

For the people who really believe it will do well in X years I suggest you write down that date, somewhere where you will see it. If by that time it still hasn't worked out I suggest you carefully consider what went wrong, be realistic,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3khTntOxX-k

 

[ginggang]

Would guess 30-100 uniques per month.



The nutters are out today.

My ukporn.mobi gets 150 pure type ins a month which is just parked. Using that as a benchmark your estimation is way out based on "sex" being a huge keyword which would attract a lot more type ins.

 

[mo_dork]

growth in the mobile internet and price growth for .mobi domains are very different issues.

I believe they are linked.
In the same way growth of the internet was linked to growth in usage of .com domains and consequently .com prices.

The mobile web will mature from its embryonic state right now, awareness and use of the .mobi TLD will grow with it.

Needing more time than 2 years to gain world wide adoption is not unreasonable. Most people's phones can't even access the web right now, bandwidths are too slow, there is barely any mobile content out there anyway.
All these things need to grow together. If you look at the trends and direction of the various technologies, it is all on track. If you own a mobi domain right now you are still ahead of the game. Hence the cheap prices, hence the doubt. Unfortunately we can't always buy into sure things.

 

[Sabre]

.mobi really is just one big risk. It's a long term investment if you want to invest in it and it won't necessarily come to fruition. Because of that, in my opinion, it's only worth holding on to a select few premium names from your portfolio. That means you minimalise losses if it doesn't take off; if it does you have a very nice, select portfolio of domains which will bring you in some big bucks.

I wouldn't say .mobi is dead. It's never been alive in the first place and it may never be born.

 

[mo_dork]

.mobi really is just one big risk. It's a long term investment if you want to invest in it and it won't necessarily come to fruition. Because of that, in my opinion, it's only worth holding on to a select few premium names from your portfolio. That means you minimalise losses if it doesn't take off; if it does you have a very nice, select portfolio of domains which will bring you in some big bucks.

Agreed

 

[newton]

If mobi is dead then all the people signing up and paying for access to my sites must be using clairvoyants to do so

 

[Traveler]

If mobi is dead then all the people signing up and paying for access to my sites must be using clairvoyants to do so

Must be those new bots with credit cards

 

[Kate]

.MOBI might not be dead, but it is certainly on life support at least in the domainer world. I am sure there are some end users who still believe in it though.

Brad

I think the same could be said about .biz

Yeah, it is going to be .TEL that ends up being the .MOBI killer :hehe:

Wait ! .tel is the dotcom killer
http://www.telsters.com/2009/03/rip-dot-com-we-barely-knew-ye

That is the "never ending story" in domain land for alt tlds, "it just needs a few more years". In another 5 years time people will be saying wait a while longer, just like they said with .tv, .info, .us etc. The chorus grows weaker each year but never really ends..

For the people who really believe it will do well in X years I suggest you write down that date, somewhere where you will see it. If by that time it still hasn't worked out I suggest you carefully consider what went wrong, be realistic,

I enjoy reading your posts Snoop... always down to earth. You are spot on.
Technology is making strides and .mobi is further marginalized every day that goes by, because it's already obsolete.

 

[scandiman]

If mobi is dead then all the people signing up and paying for access to my sites must be using clairvoyants to do so

:bingo:

(.mobi users -> :ghost: :ghost: :ghost: :ghost: :ghost: :ghost: )