Mobi vs Com, Industry's backing!!

[sker]

sales of .Mobi are going through the roof, but mobile phone giant Nokia planned to launch "Ovi", Internet services gateway on .Com extension

(OVI.COM)

Conventional wisdom on Industry standard says the backing of industry leaders is necessary,that will follow with the market adaptation.

anyone agree with me? or you guys beg to differ?

V

 

[Keith]

That's precisely what those most invested in this extension want you to believe and exactly the opposite of what any seasoned domainer will tell you -- although they own dotcoms, so they have a vested interest they're trying to protect :hehe:

Speaking for myself, it really has nothing to do with what someone wants me to believe. My feeling about .mobi is all about where I see the future heading and what I believe the public will adopt. It is sort of like picking a winning stock before it goes bigtime.

 

[mjnels]

i put my life savings into mobi...actually even more than that, several times - and at this point i have about completely broke-even sitting on 850+ mobi domains... most of them from landrush and the days shortly after.

no risk no reward.........

however, i think its a different game now... this is not landrush.

i dont recommend stockpiling .mobi's bought on the aftermarket for thousands of dollars and having no plan.. also dont recommend registering thousands of .mobi's at this point without doing your homework.

another thing i dont recommend is listening to anyone in particular... including me.. if you are new - read read read all the forums for a few MONTHS and take everything with a grain of salt.



and about dotmobi vs dotcom...

this would be awesome if true, but i think the .mobi TLD is cool by itself... my gut feeling is that in the future there will be tons of new emerging companies that serve *mobile users* with things that are unique to people on-the-go and that the .mobi TLD will fit this niche nicely.. along with m.domain.com and domain.com/mobile and everything else people choose to use.

it is not really all about "standards".... there is a simpler side to this here.. although that would be just plain awesome if the .mobi TLD was widely recognized like that someday.



werd.

 

[jido]

Interesting that these things are still being discussed today. That means that the future of the extension is not clear yet, and that it is still a gamble to invest in it... Surprising considering the number of registrations. I will wait to see what happens next year.

What would be nice is that .mobi goes through a recession of sorts, the registration fee is cut, and domainers drop their good names at rock-bottom price in panic... Then I can build myself a nice little portfolio and suddenly the world understands the need for a dedicated mobile extension (hopefully that wouldn't be .me) and resale price goes up again!

One can dream

 

[RJ]

I am not saying you are naive because .com might decline. It is more so that people seem to have this belief that .com can never be anything but number one when talking about the internet. I tend to believe that anything is possible and things do change over extended periods of time.

I'm sure people once thought there would be nothing better than radio for entertainment, or trains for cross-country travel. Those things were each toppled by something better, namely planes and television. Is .COM vulnerable in the same way?

Perhaps, but it's not likely to happen anytime soon. It would be like Coca-Cola losing it's place as the number one soft drink Worldwide. Coke has 100 years branding behind it, billions in advertising spent, and millions of distributors with long term contracts signed. It would take a major consumer revolt against the product to change anything. The situation is similar with .COM.

If .COM is Coke, .MOBI is Red Bull. It's good in small doses and has plenty of fans that like it. There's money to be made by its distributors, but not a real contender to .COM because it serves a different niche.

RJ

 

[Alex]

Sure nothing has become mainstream and that is because all other tlds are used through the pc not the mobile. It's a whole different ball game with .mobi and that is why it is unique beyond all other tlds.

And surely, people when using mobile phones will go to their desired site dot mobi just to find out another parked page by a domainer.

On a whole perspective, .mobi can come up as a niche, and serve such as .org just as somebody told this. but this is still not sure, and sales prices going beyond .org or .net prices is indicative about the hype.

I wish everybody who invested in .mobi a nice ROI, but I think .mobi will be settled down as a valid extention or not in minimum 3 - 5 years.

 

[hawkeye]

I'm sure people once thought there would be nothing better than radio for entertainment, or trains for cross-country travel. Those things were each toppled by something better, namely planes and television. Is .COM vulnerable in the same way?

Perhaps, but it's not likely to happen anytime soon. It would be like Coca-Cola losing it's place as the number one soft drink Worldwide. Coke has 100 years branding behind it, billions in advertising spent, and millions of distributors with long term contracts signed. It would take a major consumer revolt against the product to change anything. The situation is similar with .COM.

If .COM is Coke, .MOBI is Red Bull. It's good in small doses and has plenty of fans that like it. There's money to be made by its distributors, but not a real contender to .COM because it serves a different niche.

RJ

Interesting analogy RJ, and a little moreso to me I guess because I do drink Red Bull, a lot!, and have cut way back on my Cokes, which I love, to control weight gain. I think a better analogy though is 800 phone prefixes. When they ran out/short they came up with 877, and then 866. They provide the same service, just that one has been around longer and is more known and most companies would probably prefer to have 800 in their phone number. But the average user doesn't care if it's 800, 877, 866, or 8-whatever as long as it accomplishes the same thing, which is to reach somebody/business they want at no cost to them! They accept it and adapt to it. It's what works best, is simple and the easiest way for those that use it, not those that sell it!

 

[PVFARKAS]

But without the support it has from the domainer community, the MOBI TLD would be even more obscure than it is. The press-release worthy sales at TRAFFIC and Sedo and non-stop discussion around domainer forums definitely keeps MOBI in the public eye.

RJ

we are analyzing a child-actor backstage, can we all wait until the curtain is at least raised? the expectations for the present do not make sense...

how hard is it to see that .mobi is destined for greatness.

who?
.mobi

when?
can't say - soon i hope

where?
all over the world

why?
mobile is backed and used collectively by over 500 top world companies; mobile is going beyond crazy (locally, socially and globally); the names of mobile companies/sites using mobi; and the pc being seen as old-world (yup, i said it); .mobi will offer solutions and will be a trustmark for positive mobile experience... is being branded every minute imo.

how? (example 1)
say a member of sns gets hooked to a social mobi site and starts looking at home on their pc to continue conversations with their friends (or dare i say their mobile still while brother jim is on the pc, or, hmm, they don't have a pc, or the mobile user just learned to like the feel of their mobile better), maybe a .mobi expanding to the big pc screen will become a regular place to visit at home..then .com marketshare goes down a little. wow!

 

[RJ]

we are analyzing a child-actor backstage, can we all wait until the curtain is at least raised? the expectations for the present do not make sense...

What expectations?

 

[evilopinions]

Hell guy - you've got a short memory! Most of your questions have been answered over at dnf in the past few days.

Remember you saying that .mobi won't take off because of branding/advertising would cost too much, or be confusing to mere mortals? Then do you remember the picture I posted?

Had you forgotten that, or just thought you'd come somewhere else to find a new audience to spew your hatred on?

Ah yes, the 'biggies' - what would you do if all your eggs were in the .com basket? If you were approaching the time where a sell-off was looking pretty attractive, and then this new extension comes in crashing the party - grabbing the headlines - that's right - you'd do exactly what they are doing, I know I would. Going public with their achievements, trying to dampen the mobi fire. Don't see them do that with .tv, .us, .anything else, do you? You know why? It's because those other extensions aren't a threat. Trouble with this kind of defence, is that they are actually stoking the fire, rather than putting it out.

Domainers hating an extension could help it fail? That just goes to show how little you understand. Should I tell you what stops extensions from thriving, same as any other product - indifference.

Ever heard of Marmite? It's a truly disgusting (IMO), treacly spread that people put on toast. Half the population love it, half hate it, but it's been thriving for decades and everyone knows what it is (in the UK - don't know if it's sold elsewhere). If noone gave a toss about it, it would have died soon after it was launched.

Now if the number of threads in the the .us and .tv areas start to go through the roof, and people are arguing about their pros and cons - it's time to start buying!

Why are you forgetting that a layman does not even know what a .mobi extension is....I have been making websites since 2001 and have been involved in web development since then. It was not till early january in 2006 I realised that there is a market for domains as well. If you just take a look at an average asian they only know 4 extension . .com , .net , .org and .info. .com and .net pretty obvious , .org becase they maybe working for an organization and .info for it being cheapest all the time.

 

[hawkeye]

Why are you forgetting that a layman does not even know what a .mobi extension is....I have been making websites since 2001 and have been involved in web development since then. It was not till early january in 2006 I realised that there is a market for domains as well. If you just take a look at an average asian they only know 4 extension . .com , .net , .org and .info. .com and .net pretty obvious , .org becase they maybe working for an organization and .info for it being cheapest all the time.

So.., then why .asia, .tel, .biz, any country extension, etc. etc?? I'm even willing to bet that once .asia comes out no one will have heard of it either, other than that it's a continent! Doesn't mean it won't get sold, developed, used, and maybe even advertised! There's really no need for 30+ manufacturers of cars either, but there are cars for everyone's taste, needs, affordablility etc.

This can be debated forever and so many ways to suit everyones opinion! It's really about what each domainers interests are as a domainer. Whatever extension they want to play with, it's about making money! Now, or in the future! We each play our own way, and hedge our own bets, and all hope for the best! But I've got to say that those that deride those that invest in 'any' extension, are the insecure and short sighted ones, and the true 'losers' in the end.

 

[Jasdon]

Why are you forgetting that a layman does not even know what a .mobi extension is....I have been making websites since 2001 and have been involved in web development since then. It was not till early january in 2006 I realised that there is a market for domains as well. If you just take a look at an average asian they only know 4 extension . .com , .net , .org and .info. .com and .net pretty obvious , .org becase they maybe working for an organization and .info for it being cheapest all the time.

I'm sorry, but how do you get to what you wrote above, from what I wrote below?

Originally Posted by Jasdon
Hell guy - you've got a short memory! Most of your questions have been answered over at dnf in the past few days.

Remember you saying that .mobi won't take off because of branding/advertising would cost too much, or be confusing to mere mortals? Then do you remember the picture I posted?

Had you forgotten that, or just thought you'd come somewhere else to find a new audience to spew your hatred on?

Ah yes, the 'biggies' - what would you do if all your eggs were in the .com basket? If you were approaching the time where a sell-off was looking pretty attractive, and then this new extension comes in crashing the party - grabbing the headlines - that's right - you'd do exactly what they are doing, I know I would. Going public with their achievements, trying to dampen the mobi fire. Don't see them do that with .tv, .us, .anything else, do you? You know why? It's because those other extensions aren't a threat. Trouble with this kind of defence, is that they are actually stoking the fire, rather than putting it out.

Domainers hating an extension could help it fail? That just goes to show how little you understand. Should I tell you what stops extensions from thriving, same as any other product - indifference.

Ever heard of Marmite? It's a truly disgusting (IMO), treacly spread that people put on toast. Half the population love it, half hate it, but it's been thriving for decades and everyone knows what it is (in the UK - don't know if it's sold elsewhere). If noone gave a toss about it, it would have died soon after it was launched.

Now if the number of threads in the the .us and .tv areas start to go through the roof, and people are arguing about their pros and cons - it's time to start buying!

 

[Alex]

So.., then why .asia, .tel, .biz, any country extension, etc. etc?? I'm even willing to bet that once .asia comes out no one will have heard of it either, other than that it's a continent!

Country extentions? They are used in their respective country and in many places it is stronger than any gtld.

And I don't care if there will be some domainer to domainer sales in .asia too. That will not proove anything. The internet relies on websites, websites that are run by so called end users, not domainers are the core of the internet. If there will be some great end user sales in .mobi, now that would be great instead.

 

[Kate]

On the 'hate' factor... I would guess the strong feelings come from people who think more like webmasters than domainers... I am both. I have been designing websites since the early days (1996 or so). Being somewhat of a web geek I get the point when Tim Berners-Lee talks about device independent web.
That being said most webdesigners (or the average layman) have no clue when it comes to concepts such as browser-agnostic design, liquid layout or advanced content negotiation techniques... but when you do it's clear that the whole mobi scheme is not convincing at all from a technical point of view and preys upon the ignorant. That is precisely why the whole mobi concept is alien to me

Now playing the devil's advocate: I see both encouraging trends but there are also some disturbing facts that should not be overlooked. Nonetheless the .mobi 'market' looks as volatile as Worldcom stocks to me :o

Question: do the mobi backers have any tricks up their sleeves to convince the end users of the need to confuse their visitors/customers with another extension, taking into account that:
a. mobile-friendly websites have been around for a long time already, using established gTLDs/ccTLDs
b. mobile devices such as the iphone/Opera mini devices can render non-optimized websites
c. let's not forget market share. It's all about the market. As Rick would put it, the market decides.
Right now the market for mobile is tiny. Yes I know, 'mobile gonna be huge', no doubt one day it will. When mobile catches up to the real Web- not the other way round.
My point being: mobile Internet has little weight today and I pretty much doubt any .mobi 'impetus' is going to make a big difference overnight (or even happen). I can only see the ext. stagnate into oblivion like .biz or .whatever...

Honestly it's going to take serious industry 'backing' for mobi to work - much more than we have witnessed so far.
My verdict: another stillborn TLD. RIP .mobi :ghost:

 

[hawkeye]

Country extentions? They are used in their respective country and in many places it is stronger than any gtld.
.

They're as strong as they're known, and it's that simple. Dotcom got somehow 'tied' to the U.S. as the extension, and that is why '.us' is hardly used here in the states. Again, if they aren't as well known,they only get used as they are known about. The same arguement of 'they've heard of .com, but not ...', can be found to be true the majority of the time with any extension 'anywhere' too. And why have a cctld, when you can have the .com??? As is often heard in naysay land. It works all ways.

 

[Jeff]

Honestly it's going to take serious industry 'backing' for mobi to work - much more than we have witnessed so far.
My verdict: another stillborn TLD. RIP .mobi :ghost:

^ Thank you for the very technical, enlightening, and thorough analysis, Kate! :music:
Rep. being added momentarily.

In the spirit of Christmas, I think we all can agree ... this, and from a HIGHLY notable industry "backer" (though this "backing", like the others, is still very much undefined) - is a MAJOR impediment to the credibility of the .MOBI extension:

Enter mobile.google.com in your phone's web browser!

:red:

Secondly, again at this joyous time of year ... continued absence of developments of the premium auctioned .MOBI domains at Traffic & Sedo are, to put it mildly, increasingly problematic for the credibility of mTLD and the future viability of the extension and it's "ecosystem" IMHO.

Lastly, and Happy New Year to all, the abandoned RFP process - which was to "level the playing field" for acquisition of aforementioned premium .MOBI domains for developers - led to the current crisis (borne from GREED) at mTLD / Sedo, as well ... in my view.

Of course, we'll know much more by April 1 Fool's Day, 2008!

Just my two sense and Merry Christmas! :santa:
-Jeff