re: MOBI vs COM
Hi Everyone,
A very good and debatable subject. Hmm, now lets keep it civil.
INHO: I think that dot mobi will command high value, however I am hesitant to state that it will surpass dot com, not because it is impossible for dot mobi to beat dot com, but because its all dictated by the market. I happen to think that dot mobi is a worthy challenger to dot com and don't let its size fool you, it may be smaller and younger than dot com, but it has quite a few hidden aces,
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I will remind the dot com supporters that although dot com is king at the moment, there will come a point that your sales will start to slow down, just because of market conditions. How high will a buyer be willing to pay for the domain before they consider it out of their price range or too much money to be risked in a domain- that is the billion dollar question. When this sentiment is reached then the other extensions will pick up in value and may in fact cause the dot com market to drop in value. Just like the real estate industry had a recent price correction, so to could dot com domains. So, lets say investors felt that their needs were best met by dot mobi, then the value would rise while the dot com price would dip, thus appearing that the dot mobi beat the dot com, but in fact what just took place was a price correction.
I will agree with the dot com supporters in that as mobile technology progresses they will be able to run code just as complex as the ones that pcs run, and therefore mobiles could just as well visit dot com domains. However, this is a double edge sword. If these changes in technology were to happen, the restrictions on dot mobi may be removed and that would mean that dot mobi would become just as competitive to dot com as any other extension for that matter- since websites could become just as complex as any other tld- only difference would be the dot mobi extension.
Now here is the kicker. Lets say for the sake of argument that taxi.com were to become for sale and that the individual that owned it had an asking price of 1billion USD since after all it would include the buyout of corporation xyz, and all other extensions where reasonably close to the same value or even owned by the same company. And then here comes dot mobi, which happens to be owned by one individual that is willing to sell for 100million USD, do you honestly believe that the buyer would pay the 1billion USD for dot com vs 100millions USD for the dot mobi??? Again, it depends on the market, the opinion they have on the extension, and what other benefits were included. I don't know about you guys, but taxi.com/taxi.net and taxi.mobi all sound good to me, as country neutrals. taxi.org/taxi.name, kind of would sound awkward, it may or may not be. Other tld and cctlds may not sound as good or may in fact trigger country specifics to mind. For instance, local markets: taxi.us (us market), taxi.co.uk (uk market), etc.
So, now I'll answer the OPs questions...
1. The ratio of mobile phones to pc's.
* lot more phones to pcs. While its true that there aren't many specific details on percentages of enabled internet phones, I'm willing to bet this number will grow, and has a potential to outnumber the pcs on internet.
2. The restrictions of employers allowing their staff the use of pc's. Time is money!
* true, and the phone generation feels much more comfortable with their phone than a pc, cause pcs seem so outdated to us. Additionally, not many parental blocks on phones, unlike pcs.
3. The screen size restrictions of mobile phone's.
* screen size on phones is actually a drawback, but newer phones are being designed to have a larger screen space, which is good for portable units.
4. The lack of time available in a day to access home pc's. Kids are always on the pc.
* i think a good percentage of people have multiple pcs, but like I previously stated the phone generation feels much more comfortable with their phones.
5. The mobile phone technology is getting better exponentially.
* very true. this isn't really good or bad, its just is.
6. I am sure the carbon footprint of a mobile is less than a pc.
* true, load times are faster. but code can always be optimized.
7. There is only one domain extension designed for the mobile, but many extension's for pc's. I would say watering down the value of domains with multiple extension's. This maybe why some people are so negative about .mobi's.
* true, however that said the dot com supporters have a valid point in stating that code can be optimized in mobile detection to create adaptable websites. However, equally true for the dot mobi, it can be designed to be optimized for mobile and code detection to change accordingly, if a pc is detected as the accessing system.
So, in conclusion what am I saying? I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming iPhone. lol. I know that's not part of this debate, just thought I throw a monkey wrench in there, its been a long debate.
