.mobi Monetization of Dot Mobi

[Rubber Duck]

Can anyone put forward a coherent explanation of how this is to be achieved?

The way things stand at the moment it appears to me that even assuming that everything go according to the way the dot Mobi Registry envisage it that there are major if not insurrmountable hurdles to clear in order to monetize traffic in the way that we currently understand monetization with dot coms.

Does anyone here have any useful insights on this, or has this aspect of things with this extension simply been forgotten in the general clamour?

 

[movingconcierge]

I need that! Who's the code whiz? Let's Jt. venture! I'm serious damn it. Someone at least develop and sell it to us!

Than also comes the ability to geo target. Like if you are in Vancouver (big city in Canada) and you walk down the road. Maybe you will get an ad for the newest store in town or something. Like those flyers on the side of the telephone pole might become implanted somehow and when you walk by you could automatically receive all them onto your cellies.
- Steve

 

[thinking1]

In placed like Italy text messages are the way they spam you. No more phone or mail because it is too expensive over there. You can signup a brand new number and within 1 hour after you signup you will receive a text message for something. So I REALLY see a future for mobile advertising in the way of text messages.

Also as many people said, the 1-900 number is also a wonderful way to make money. Than also comes the ability to geo target. Like if you are in Vancouver (big city in Canada) and you walk down the road. Maybe you will get an ad for the newest store in town or something. Like those flyers on the side of the telephone pole might become implanted somehow and when you walk by you could automatically receive all them onto your cellies.

An idea, there are millions of ways to make money on cell phone.

- Steve

I get text messages from Cingular a few times a week advertising something or trying to get me to text back to sign up for something. I'm sure they make a boatload of money from people just simply pressing that reply button.

 

[newton]

iNod touched on it briefly above with regards to advertising.

I know of stores in London and other places that beam the latest mp3's to you via bluetooth, the last one was Tower Records I believe to advertise a band's latest album.

Subways and Metro's are preparing for this with adverts from posters / billboards that automatically sense when a phone is near and beam the information to you. That is huge and similar to the scene in 'Minority Report' where it knows who you are and beams information directly to you.

Think of all the commuters on trains who are potential clients for this advertising, typically held on trains / buses for some considerable time each day. You get sent the latest viral video with a url or branding on it and if its good you will send it to friends

Dating is another opportunity where you see a woman who meets your criteria on a billboard and you point your phone at this billboard, it takes your details, photo etc and forwards them on to her. If she is interested she will respond back.

Another avenue is to have a small transmitter in storefronts that are very cheap, you walk past these and activate your bluetooth and you instantly have all their contact details, website, phone numbers stored in your phones as business cards.

Its just the tip of the iceberg and the money is huge.

 

[mobidick]

I must confess I shared Rubberduck's sentiments at one point; most domainers are so busy caught up in their present parking enterprises that they didn't have time to consider .mobi early on, and when they discovered the restrictions, effectively shutting out parking revenues, they quickly lost interest. So I can understand how it might make them feel better to believe that .mobi is 'going nowhere fast' or 'heading toward oblivion' or 'being dumped en masse 2 years from now'... (I'm not quoting Rubberduck here btw)

Somehow I managed to pick up some premium domains (city names), which sparked my further interest to explore this extension more and the whole mobile internet in general. Now I'v caught the .mobi bug... and that's coming from someone whose main business is ppc.

Anyways, the point remains - how to monetize these things, and what are the prospects for both the short and long term revenues, in particular as it relates to parking? That is a fair point, that understandably makes for a great discussion - I'm sure enjoying all the great ideas and thoughts being posted.

So thanks Rubberduck!

 

[iNod]

As much as I hear Rubber Ducky bashing .mobi he has not yet. So until we hear such things on this post. Please keep it out.

Also there is no linking to other domain forums on namepros.

- Steve

 

[mobidick]

Pay-per-call clicks will end up paying more than pay-per-click clicks because it is a better lead for the business. I believe the bulk of the early mobile use will be as a yellow pages, and .mobi sites will make their money from the referral of customers via pay-per-call.

Getting back to the monetization question... I agree that local phone directories, combined with maps will be one of the early killer apps of the mobile internet. Maybe some businesses like G or YP can work out arrangements with carriers to provide them with location details (at a neighborhood level) for serving up ultrageotargetted adsense type ads.

Might there be trademark & patent issues with pay-per-call?

On dev.mtld, in their forum there was some thread about clickable links by which your phone dials the number for you - it seems there are slightly different ways that different phone networks handle this... so you might have to know what kind of phone/network is being used and serve up the right format.

 

[ezinaz]

Getting back to the monetization question... I agree that local phone directories, combined with maps will be one of the early killer apps of the mobile internet. Maybe some businesses like G or YP can work out arrangements with carriers to provide them with location details (at a neighborhood level) for serving up ultrageotargetted adsense type ads.

Might there be trademark & patent issues with pay-per-call?

On dev.mtld, in their forum there was some thread about clickable links by which your phone dials the number for you - it seems there are slightly different ways that different phone networks handle this... so you might have to know what kind of phone/network is being used and serve up the right format.

Google pay-per-call has you put your number in a field and they call you.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623330

One click-to-call model connects users and advertisers via traditional phone service. A user clicks the ad and enters their phone number on the Web. Google tested that model last year, and it's currently in use by several publishers and click-to-call vendors, including Superpages.com and eStara, Yellowpages.com and Ingenio, and Microsoft's Windows Live Local.

 

[labrocca]

This whole thread reminds me of 1998 and the bubble. No one could understand HOW to monetize the internet properly. Many had great ideas and dillussions of granduer. Let's list some of those great ideas...

ValueAmerica.com
Pets.com
Kozmo.com
Boo.com
Webvan.com
Excite.com

The list can go on and on. Kozmo.com really stands out as there is all this talk of how mobile usage will change everything...that sounds earily familiar with Kozmo.com where they promised that home delivery of items was ultra important and the future. It never materialized and investors lost BILLIONS in these companies.

With every trend there are winners and LOSERS. Don't be fooled by "potential". How many here buy websites based upon "potential"? It's a dangerous word used by con artists to fool buyers into false hope.

I am sure the mobile web will be fruitful in the years to come..but not until there is trial and error and TONS of money lost first. Also...it doesn't have to come from .mobi to be mobile and useful.

 

[mobidick]

potential and risk...

that's what makes this discussion all the more interesting and useful - don't you agree?

 

[izo-pod]

I am sure the mobile web will be fruitful in the years to come..but not until there is trial and error and TONS of money lost first. Also...it doesn't have to come from .mobi to be mobile and useful.

I don't want to sound condescending, but from this last statement of yours it shows a lack of insight on what is happening on the "mobile web" as you state. It reminded me of what Bob Dole said, the 80 year retired senator, had to say about the internet, and I quote: "The internet is a great way to get on the net."

btw: This is a .mobi forum. So obviously we are going to talk about ways to monetize these domains in a way to produce the highest ROI. If it were a .net forum, I'm sure we'd be discussing ways to monetize them. It's funny how these things come about.

 

[fautebol]

I found this article interesting regarding banners and text advertising:
http://www.adotas.com/2007/01/the-m...nfusion-and-hype-isnt-dampening-the-optimism/

 

[mirrorcube]

Great posts all the way down the line so far. Two things about .mobi give me a high level of optimism. One is that the mobile internet is going to be huge. As mentioned geotargeting and direct ads beamed to your phone is already happening now, Ive seen several companies offering this service. As i read more about Japan's mobile usage it leads me to believe the US is at least 5 years behind on cell phone application usage. They buy tickets on their cell phone and you can even pay for snacks in a vending machine with your cell phone. This mega potential along with an extension that people associate with cell phones has a great chance for success.

The other major reason for my optimism are people like all of you on this thread. The level of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit is why i have gotten so involved in the domaining and web developing community lately. I think the key is to follow up on some of these ideas and get them to market.

One thing is for sure, monetization is necessary. If one mobi starts making money, another one with clone it. If another mobi name with another business model makes money, then yet another batch of people willl try to clone it. The monetization is going to happen, the question is how fast and who will be a first mover.