.mobi My advice to mTLD: Make .mobi exclusive with one carrier

[izo-pod]

I've been thinking about this for some time, but the reason certain TLDs fail is because there is no palpable use for them. We all know that if .XXX came out tomorrow it would instantly rival .com because people would automatically know what to find on the other end of a .XXX address. It just so happens, the content is well sought after....because it's a niche... porn that is.

Therefore instead of having .mobi be the "end all" for everything mobile, I really do think .mobi would do better if it was marketed as a "niche" product. In light of the recent announcement of the iPhone, let's be honest... There will be a lot of people who will "prefer" the full internet experience via a mobile phone irregardless if you have to "zoom in" to get it. I for one am looking forward to it. The iPhone made me realize just how quickly some "advances" can be made to look so marginalized. Certainly everyone will now try to duplicate the "full" internet experience on mobile devices. THEY HAVE TO. Who wants to be known as selling products where you're stuck in 2006.

So here is my idea: Market the .mobi as a internet address for a specific class of phones THROUGH one carrier (Nokia). On the phone .mobi will be the default address. The people will not have to type in extension (if they don't want to). Instead of having "wap-like" sites on the phone, make them have some "special" qualities that make them unique to dot mobi. If you want, give me a few days, I will invent a new method of delivery for the content on mobile devices that has never been seen before. Think, "shape shifting".

One thing I've learned the last 10 years is for that "tech" companies to survive (and mTLD included) they must partner with someone who is in the lead position for their market. It's easy to say that, but it's what you have to do to survive. I will say it here right now. If .mobi market's itself as the "mobile internet" address for all devices, it will fail. Not only just a little bit, but will flame into a ball of fire worse than dot museum. If it wants to survive it too must partner, reinvent itself, and produce quality products. I would like to think of .mobi as just an internet address, but let's be honest. It's ugly. And at the present time it's main purpose is to produce quality "wap-like" sites. How long do you think this will last?

You might say well isn't mTLD partnered with Nokia, Google, etc already? I think they gave them money, but there are no "product" partnerships. I really think if they saw the light on this one, as I said they would try to hook-up with Nokia to create a "special" class of phones. It would be a win-win situation as Nokia then would create a phone that "truly" delivered a unique internet experience whereby I don't have to "tap" in the dot mobi. And I could also experience a entire new internet experience. It has to be this way for .mobi to succeed. Niche.... Partner up.... Invent... Market... Do it all over again. Welcome to the era of 15 Minute product life-cycles.

 

[thinking1]

You have some valid points but this brings the "walled garden" back up. It actually builds the walls and the barriers and put us back where we started. If Mobi was exclusive with one carrier then it would be like the closed loop networks/portals that many carriers already have (that have proven to failed).

By limiting yourself to one carrier you are losing out on soooo much potential and so many markets. If Mobi was exclusive to one carrier then that carrier would have to have at least 2 billion people using it or else Mobi would be doomed.

I personally want Mobi to be everywhere and everyone to use it. Discriminating and segregating mobi to one market would kill it. I would not have invested in Mobi if they made it exclusive to one carrier. The only chance that I'd invest in an exclusive Mobi would be if Verizon, Cingular, and T-Mobile decided to join together as one company and then said they are making it exclusive to their network. But even then I'd still be a little worried.

 

[nrmillions]

making mobi exclusive to one carrier would be the worst thing ever. Noone would ever advertise a single mobi name because they would know that only people with that 1 company could access it. mobi already is a niche product and that niche is mobile devices. if one company such as verizon made an exclusive deal with mobi then that would mean that noone in europe or asia or many other places could ever access mobi and it would mean that the majority of the U.S. couldnt either. It would be like saying that they should have made .com exclusive to only one company such as Dell or AOL and noone else can access any .com and that it would be better that way since it is a smaller niche. good thing you dont work for mTLD.

 

[ofclean]

.mobi isn't just for mobile phones, it's for devices with smaller screens. That being said, the iPhone is only 480x320, anyway. That's tiny, and a normal website would look awful on a screen that size.

 

[yoyosean]

the whole reason for mobi to exist is when end users travel outside the walls of their wireless carrier. in my opinion .mobi will be the .net of the wireless world so it will definitely have its place, it has a slight chance of being the .com if they can ramp up immediately and brand themselves as the mobile experience but that is a slight chance.

 

[namewaiter]

carriers come and carriers go ... i've been in the telecom industry for 12 years, would not be a good move to go carrier specific - let's say they go with t-mobile, att buys t-mobile 3 years from now - then what?

 

[scandiman]

making mobi exclusive to one carrier would be the worst thing ever. Noone would ever advertise a single mobi name because they would know that only people with that 1 company could access it. mobi already is a niche product and that niche is mobile devices. if one company such as verizon made an exclusive deal with mobi then that would mean that noone in europe or asia or many other places could ever access mobi and it would mean that the majority of the U.S. couldnt either. It would be like saying that they should have made .com exclusive to only one company such as Dell or AOL and noone else can access any .com and that it would be better that way since it is a smaller niche. good thing you dont work for mTLD.

Well said.

 

[izo-pod]

Keep in mind folks that .mobi would still be seen on any device that is internet enabled. My idea of creating a "special" phone for the "release" of mobi would be huge psychologically to consumers in IMHO. People would want the phone because of what mobi would do for them. You don't have that "persay" with mobi right now because .mobi is just a "Broad" term. Not a solution. At least you don't see people typing .mobi in droves "just" to see the "real" mobile internet. Nor do I believe they will in the future if dot mobi tries to brand itself as the "mobile" internet address. For pete sakes... The internet will be unfied with many devices, not just mobile ones.

If you think dot mobi can be branded the "mobile internet" address that makes websites "look right" after last week, well I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.

I am a BIG fan of ALT extensions folks, but I tend to move with markets. As the markets shift, so too must the "nifty" products and/or services. This product lifecycle seems like it's only 15 minutes. In some cases it is.

What's the palpable drive to dot mobi? IF it's to look at text sites, well... That experience is over. If you don't believe me just wait six months. Not only will there be an iPhone, but there will be more products to make this internet experience even better. Motorola just lost millions this last quarter. If you think their R&D dept is working on the "same" type of mobile devices that lost them market share well... you get the idea.

The drive to create interesting products with "functional" mobile web browsers trump internet addresses. That is the missing puzzle I had not foreseen with .mobi.

If you're not a fan of .mobi partnering with nokia on a phone, then there is always the ".mobi" channel. Go after .TV's market like a pitbull. Mobi webisode content. Dot Mobi could create a platform to view mobile entertainment.

Hopefully you're beginning to see how vast the mobile internet is. I don't think one entity would own it. The way to win, is to carve out a niche for youself to give "X" people a reason to use your service.

 

[mjnels]

interesting thoughts as always izo-pod..

although, i simply see .mobi as just an extention like .info
i know part of their current 'mission statement' is to make it so sites are easily viewable and not just a jumbled mess, but someday the technology will make it possible to have a mobile device or phone with a 5 terahertz cpu and 10gig of memory along with almost every webmaster realizing that you have to make the sites viewable for mobile devices...or it just wont be an issue at all anymore..take your pick really.

even though .mobi is kinda ugly, funny sounding, and not really a known word or acronym i simply see it as an alternative to .com .net .org .biz .tv .info ws .eu .asia .blah....... sure are getting to be a lot of extentions, but really the question is which niche is most viable overtime..

.tv is a neat one, seems to be doing okay these days..
.info seems to do ok, i dont really know of too many .info sites but after 5yrs the reseller rates seem to do ok if you have good ones.


then theres mobi..... and mobi SEEMS like a viable niche if the other ones are doing okay.. i like it for the simple idea of it denotes a site has mobile content.. like things we dont even think of now, because right now the only tool we commonly use is our phone.

and then theres all the country code tlds, which all have their niche, some obviously more than others..


IF it is possible for other TLD's to exist and actually be widely used, i think its possible for mobi.. but only time will tell.