.mobi My thoughts on the Neil Edwards Podcast

[binaryman]

Just listened to the podcast now.
And I must say I'm not that impressed at all. Neil does not offer anything new. Seems to me there is no campaign of any sort coming at all to tickle consumer awareness. It looks like he expects the consumers to pick up .Mobi and run with it themselves. I think he believes .Mobi will become successful by it's own momentum. But is there real momentum? All the revenue generated by the sales of .Mobi thus far is going where? Sure a persentage was spent on .Mobi developers tools but that's a small persentage of total revenue. I also dont like the mans style(never have from the beginning actually) He sorta hums and hahs along and does not inspire any confidence. Also he does not speak very well, quite nasal and unconvincing. When I first saw photo's of him at various meetings and events it struck me that he only has one tie, a red one.( Maybe he has more then one red tie) But he always has a red tie and he looks kinda sloppy,not businessman like. His suit and tie dont cover up well for him. He struck me as a bit greasy and sleasy looking sorry to say. But I thought oh well dont judge a book by it's cover and lets see if he can make true all he promises. Well time has gone on and we are now 9 months down the road from then and I fear my first impressions were not so unfounded after all.
Well I still hope I'm wrong but I am starting to worry that .Mobi is going to fizzle out like a damp squid sooner then later if this style of management and promotion of .Mobi is going to continue as it has up to now.
Just my 2 eurocents worth

 

[Jeff]

I think the actual question regarding the RFP's and "RFP's process" was not addressed directly to the questioner's intent, IMHO. I remember hearing more on this lead-in subject about ICANN and then the history of how .MOBI and its present "consortium" evolved, etc. ... but I'll listen to it again to further clarify, as well. :blink:

The most significant thing that can be done NOW / YESTERDAY (which, again, I did not hear addressed or with any sense of urgency in the referenced Podcast) to promote to the general public is the four initial RFP's ... and then firm plans for the remainer of the RFP's and Reserved names into the hands of developers! :gl: :imho:

Saying "That's a very good question" over and over, but not ever really with a lot of substance to then answer the very good questions ... should not exactly inspire confidence in the extension, in my humble view.
Two sense.
-Jeff

 

[-REECE-]

I think the actual question regarding the RFP's and "RFP's process" was not addressed directly to the questioner's intent, IMHO. I remember hearing more on this lead-in subject about ICANN and then the history of how .MOBI and its present "consortium" evolved, etc. ... but I'll listen to it again to further clarify, as well. :blink:

The most significant thing that can be done NOW / YESTERDAY (which, again, I did not hear addressed or with any sense of urgency in the referenced Podcast) to promote to the general public is the four initial RFP's ... and then firm plans for the remainer of the RFP's and Reserved names into the hands of developers! :gl: :imho:

Saying "That's a very good question" over and over, but not ever really with a lot of substance to then answer the very good questions ... should not exactly inspire confidence in the extension, in my humble view.
Two sense.
-Jeff

My initial opinion of Neil was that he was a twit. He really seems like a guy who should be flipping burgers, not running a multibillion dollar corporation inside of a few years (if we are to believe .mobi to succeed at .com level or greater).

I'm starting to believe that this is more of an orchestrated play, and that Neil is trying to deceive us by playing the "dumb" card.

If you think about it -- it makes perfect sense! What's the best way to discourage domainers from investing in an extension? Act like a twit, break promises, lie incessantly, never get to the point, never follow through, avoid questions which are "hard" to answer, I could go on...
IS THIS A STRATEGY?

Am I paranoid, or does mtld perhaps think they can discourage domainers from investing in the extension by managing things like a bunch of amateurs?

Surely to GOD, nobody could be so clueless and be given authority to run such a "world changing" extension? Is Neil really this clueless on how to run a business of this magnitude, or are we the clueless ones -- pawns of this mastermind's scheme; a scheme to discourage cybersquatters, domainers, and speculators alike, to ensure a greater likelihood of success for this extension, which very well may alter the mobile web as we know it?

You choose. I think Neil's alot brighter than he appears -- or acts.

 

[labrocca]

hehe..funny post Reece.

I can't say much about Neil personally but the type your describing isn't exactly flattering. imho mTLD is at face value exactly what it appears to be..an extension created by marketers spawned from the mobile phone industry. You can't say the low $xx million spawn of a dozen multi-BILLION dollar corporations is really anything significant. What's really puzzling is the domainer effect. Well..I take that back..as most the domainers I see falling for mobi are really just looking for an easy buck (nothing wrong with that mind you).

 

[-REECE-]

hehe..funny post Reece.

I can't say much about Neil personally but the type your describing isn't exactly flattering. imho mTLD is at face value exactly what it appears to be..an extension created by marketers spawned from the mobile phone industry. You can't say the low $xx million spawn of a dozen multi-BILLION dollar corporations is really anything significant. What's really puzzling is the domainer effect. Well..I take that back..as most the domainers I see falling for mobi are really just looking for an easy buck (nothing wrong with that mind you).

Yep, it's exactly as you said -- mostly newbies looking to "strike gold". I've been investing in stocks seriously for the past 10 years. I know that there is no such thing as an easy buck. Sure, you might make money fast, as I did with Google. But any investor with half a nut for a brain would be carefully following news briefings, reading up on the company, comparing earnings this quarter to previous ones, reading up on their acquisitions, what their acquisitions may be useful for, etc on a daily basis (not all of those points obviously, but you get the point). So in the end, it's not easy money. I worked for it just the same. Only a fool (and I know alot of them!) would put a substantial amount of money in something and let their stockbroker, portfolio manager, etc do all the work, and just assume all things will be fine and dandy. Anyone know how many stockbrokers can't pick stocks any better than monkeys? The number is suprisingly high...

Bottom line is that with any investment, striking it rich is not going to be easy. Whether it's about holding on to your investment for years (through the ups and downs), or investing substantial amounts of money to realize large returns in a small amount of time, the end result is the same -- you need a certain mentality to stand a chance at succeeding.

I've put around $7000 in .mobi up to now. I'm considering on upping that to $20,000 or so, but am still undecided -- I'd like to know some facts (i.e. RFP) beforehand. Am I going to strike it rich off my .mobi investment of $7000? Hell no. What about an investment of $20,000? Of course not!

To make money, you need money and you need balls. I don't have the balls to put more than $20,000 in .mobi, it just seems like a junk bond to me. People need to stop thinking of .mobi as a "get rich quick scheme" and rather as a high risk/high reward investment. If I can turn my $20,000 investment into $100,000, have alot of fun in the process, and make myself a cool site, would I be happy? HELL YEAH! That's a 500% ROI in a few years time. What kind of fool wouldn't be happy with that? Funny thing is that I've invested more than probably 75% of people have, yet I'd say 90% of those who've invested think they're going to make millions. Who's being realistic, and who's not here? An average stock takes about 6 years to double in value -- you'd be looking at roughly 15 years to achieve a 5-fold increase in value. And .mobi might do that in 5 years?

IMO, .mobi is an excellent investment. The risk/reward ratio is greatly in our favor, but is .mobi a get rich quick scheme? No. Is .mobi a get rich quick over time scheme? Likely not. Will you, me, or 99% of domainers get rich off .mobi? Likely not. Will you, me, or 50%+ of domainers experience considerably better returns than could be expected with alternative investments? Perhaps -- I wouldn't say it's not possible or even not likely.

 

[mjnels]

My initial opinion of Neil was that he was a twit. He really seems like a guy who should be flipping burgers, not running a multibillion dollar corporation inside of a few years (if we are to believe .mobi to succeed at .com level or greater).

I'm starting to believe that this is more of an orchestrated play, and that Neil is trying to deceive us by playing the "dumb" card.

If you think about it -- it makes perfect sense! What's the best way to discourage domainers from investing in an extension? Act like a twit, break promises, lie incessantly, never get to the point, never follow through, avoid questions which are "hard" to answer, I could go on...
IS THIS A STRATEGY?

Am I paranoid, or does mtld perhaps think they can discourage domainers from investing in the extension by managing things like a bunch of amateurs?

Surely to GOD, nobody could be so clueless and be given authority to run such a "world changing" extension? Is Neil really this clueless on how to run a business of this magnitude, or are we the clueless ones -- pawns of this mastermind's scheme; a scheme to discourage cybersquatters, domainers, and speculators alike, to ensure a greater likelihood of success for this extension, which very well may alter the mobile web as we know it?

You choose. I think Neil's alot brighter than he appears -- or acts.

ol Neil's watchin you Reece..

http://dotmobi.typepad.com/dotmobi/2007/08/from-burger-kin.html

 

[Badger]

OMG, that cracks me up...

I wonder why, if Neil is busy lurking around this forum, he doesnt sign up and make a few posts..

Seems odd in this day and age where user generated content and community driven businesses are all the rage and where you have a glut of hungry and eager domainers here wishing to contribute and aid the building of his business he chooses to stay away.

Then again, Im an ex-Dublin'ite, and the guys there dont do ANYTHING at, well what can I say, faster than a snails pace.

 

[mjnels]

OMG, that cracks me up...

I wonder why, if Neil is busy lurking around this forum, he doesnt sign up and make a few posts..

Seems odd in this day and age where user generated content and community driven businesses are all the rage and where you have a glut of hungry and eager domainers here wishing to contribute and aid the building of his business he chooses to stay away.

Then again, Im an ex-Dublin'ite, and the guys there dont do ANYTHING at, well what can I say, anything faster than a snails pace.

most likely they prefer to keep the conversation at their website... theyve said something like that before.. they did mention namepros and im sure theyre aware a good number of mTLD blog readers are members here.. so they made a joke and a mention to keep our attention.

 

[nedwards]

My commentary on my podcast

I have to admit it too. I did not like my interview on the podcasts months ago. I have done many more live broadcasts which have been well received. Here is some more Neil Edwards for you, http://mtld.mobi/broadcast. You should really check out the dotMobi website because news goes live daily. Keep the material coming on the photos and one liners. I love a bit of humor.

On a serious note, we are doing much more in the next few months in the domainer community. We will not be perfect, but you can expect much more participation with the release of our good premium names, lower dotmobi prices to registrars, and better content tools. Each of you should really be getting your technology people in touch with dev.mobi. You can learn a life time of education on how to get your content mobile and accepted on the network operator networks and more than 4,000 handsets around the world.

Thanks,
Neil

 

[Jeff]

#1 Namepros .MOBI Forum

Seems odd in this day and age where user generated content and community driven businesses are all the rage and where you have a glut of hungry and eager domainers here wishing to contribute and aid the building of his business he chooses to stay away.

Agree. :talk:

With still so many unanswered questions ... dating back to Pinky's one and only visit in November '06, IMHO.
Thanks for listening.
-Jeff

 

[scandiman]

Agree. :talk:

With still so many unanswered questions ... dating back to Pinky's one and only visit in November '06, IMHO.
Thanks for listening.
-Jeff

With all the hostility around here it's no wonder they stay away.

 

[garrett200]

ol Neil's watchin you Reece..

http://dotmobi.typepad.com/dotmobi/2007/08/from-burger-kin.html

LOL! That is hilarious :lol:

With all the hostility around here it's no wonder they stay away.

True. And they probably also stay away because they aren't about to divulge all of their business plans and relationships to Jeff, ROFL.

They way they are doing it is professional, IMO. They let us know they are watching, and then tackle some of our questions on their blog. That's a cool way to do it, because if they came in here they'd be ripped to shreds since they know they can't answer everything we would want them to answer.

I, for one, am glad they have at least acknowledged us. In fact, they've done a lot more than that recently. They've addressed a lot of our concerns on their blog.

 

[Jeff]

With all the hostility around here it's no wonder they stay away.

I don't see it that way, Paul ... as I have repeatedly mentioned there are still MANY many unanswered questions posed by the membership here in the .MOBI Forum™, IMHO. :yell:

Neil, Pinky, Caroline, and whomever mTLD should view this as an opportunity to finally address these lingering - and, frankly, growing - questions and concerns ... because as fellow member and :great: Badger notes above, " ... where you have a glut of hungry and eager domainers here wishing to contribute and aid the building of his business he chooses to stay away" IMHO.

It will require some time and effort on their part, a commitment ... but it's the least they can do considering the amount of hard-earned money and time & energies these member's have spent on .MOBI registrations (and for those who are developing and/or planning on developing), in my view. :talk:

Again, please address the UNANSWERED questions! :imho:
Thank you very kindly.
-Jeff

 

[garrett200]

Again, please address the UNANSWERED questions! :imho:
Thank you very kindly.
-Jeff

I think they have, Jeff. Just maybe not to YOUR satisfaction.

Neil has addressed a game plan for the premiums, and lots of our other questions on their blog. Might not be the DETAIL that I would have liked either, but can you really expect them to reveal EVERYTHING?

Come on now Jeff.....

 

[mjnels]

here you go jeff... your prayers are answered..tear him a new one:

http://www.namepros.com/251904-how-to-develop-a-mobi-site-5.html





















....and now back to your regularly scheduled namepros reality show 8^X

 

[scandiman]

I don't see it that way, Paul ... as I have repeatedly mentioned there are still MANY many unanswered questions posed by the membership here in the .MOBI Forum™, IMHO. :yell:

Neil, Pinky, Caroline, and whomever mTLD should view this as an opportunity to finally address these lingering - and, frankly, growing - questions and concerns ... because as fellow member and :great: Badger notes above, " ... where you have a glut of hungry and eager domainers here wishing to contribute and aid the building of his business he chooses to stay away" IMHO.

It will require some time and effort on their part, a commitment ... but it's the least they can do considering the amount of hard-earned money and time & energies these member's have spent on .MOBI registrations (and for those who are developing and/or planning on developing), in my view. :talk:

Again, please address the UNANSWERED questions! :imho:
Thank you very kindly.
-Jeff

Considering so many ongoing demands for confidential information, plus add in all the mtld and mobi bashing over the past several months it has and can get ugly around here. As you already pointed out, there is already significant investment in .mobi by the domain community so any appeasement by mTLD here will be construed as more of the proverbial "money grab". They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. .Mobi is doing just fine right now, with so many new releases and promotions it is obvious to any objective observer that this new tld is off to a great start as it's 1st birthday approaches. No need IMO to appease the skeptics, just keep pushing forward as they already are. If domainers don't want to get involved in the upcoming Premium releases, that is their prerogative and loss IMO.

 

[Badger]

here you go jeff... your prayers are answered..tear him a new one:

http://www.namepros.com/251904-how-to-develop-a-mobi-site-5.html

Excellent! Its very positive that the root registry execs are willing to contribute to this community which, along with the mobility ex-pats, are the largest .mobi supporters on the net.

I still stand by the fact that the greatest harnessing of strength for mltd would be by connecting with, interacting and driving the extension here with the "already sold" large number of .mobi developers, investors and supporters.

Actually, maybe I should invite Neil or Pinky for a pint. Exchange Place is only a short stroll to my local "the porterhouse" at the top of temple bar. Maybe I make another radio namepros show. I think Monte Cahn has now recovered from my last one

 

[garrett200]

They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Absolutely, and some people here would NEVER be satisfied, even if they came in here and personally took questions.

Again, I will say that I think the manner in which they have chosen to answer questions (their blog) is a very professional way to handle it.

We might not like all of the answers, but the fact is that they don't HAVE to answer any questions, just like no one here HAD to invest in .mobi.

Just because you bought some domains means you can demand answers to all of your questions from a private company? I don't think so! Even owning shares of stock in a public company doesn't obligate them to answer any questions!

Nobody put a gun to anyone's head to buy .mobi domains, and we're NOT entitled to know everything they are doing just because we chose to buy some domains. Keyword: chose.

All that being said, it is great that they have decided to address some of our concerns on their blog.

 

[acc]

Excellent! Its very positive that the root registry execs are willing to contribute to this community which, along with the mobility ex-pats, are the largest .mobi supporters on the net.

"mobility ex-pats" - I like that term - Very appropriate observation Ian!

Absolutely, and some people here would NEVER be satisfied, even if they came in here and personally took questions. ... Again, I will say that I think the manner in which they have chosen to answer questions (their blog) is a very professional way to handle it.

We might not like all of the answers, but the fact is that they don't HAVE to answer any questions, just like no one here HAD to invest in .mobi.

Just because you invested means you can demand answers to all of your questions from a private company? I don't think so! ... Nobody put a gun to anyone's head to buy .mobi domains, and we're NOT entitled to know everything they are doing just because we chose to buy some domains.

An in general those with the fewest .mobi names and smallest investments are crying the loudest.
Those with the most names and biggest investments are not.
THAT in itself tells you something.