.mobi New trend? m.subdomains

[gemulder]

http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/m-dot-webs-answer-to-mobile/ :td:


Edwards also claimed that consumers won't necessarily have to key in the actual characters - .mobi - when visiting a site. That's because browsers from Access, Nokia and Openwave will automatically default to assuming that the user wants the .mobi domain, not the .com site.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=31507 :tu:

 

[-REECE-]

http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/m-dot-webs-answer-to-mobile/ :td:

Thanks for the link! I was aware of the plethora m-prefixed dot mobis, but wasn't aware there was such a multitude of m-prefixed subdomains.

 

[mobidick]

Edwards also claimed that consumers won't necessarily have to key in the actual characters - .mobi - when visiting a site. That's because browsers from Access, Nokia and Openwave will automatically default to assuming that the user wants the .mobi domain, not the .com site.

There's no indication of how soon such broswers will be loaded onto mobile handsets.

The sooner, the better, but critical mass needs to be reached first. I predict early 2008, following the release of numerous premium .mobis and significant deals involving city/country .mobis... :imho: As we've seen with Helsinki.mobi, it doesn't take long to put such a site up.

the m.site.com thing is an interesting development - looks like a marketing race... .mobi has big players behind it, but then m.google and m.yahoo could swing the tide all by themselves... there may be room for both to coexist, afterall, not every .com owns the .mobi too.

As for typing, .mobi is 9 keystrokes, whereas m. ... com is also at least 9 keystrokes and depending on how the dot is handled, even more (according to my calculations).

 

[satsdifference.com]

All eyes on Google for this challenge - power dynamics shift sign detected within

Hi

One thing is for sure, who knows what is going on :D

This article is sparking legitimate questions for the timeliness of Dot Mobi.

From a world perspective, asking for all countries and their domain extensions to include a m.brand.extension altogether might be very challenging.. to have adoption, from the world level down to the "m." faster than what MTLD and DotMobi can do/grow from the grassroots up with a domain extension.. we'll see what unfolds and we'll see if this challenge does act as a catalyst for .mobi troops; and, all will be watching Google (backer) very closely:

-------
Two removals have just happened..

1.)Google removes beta link project that was on a Dot Mobi URL with redirect:
Removed - http://news.google.mobi/news?output=xhtml

then,

2.)Google removes phone redirect of Google.com which went to http://google.com/pda

------

Now, google presents us with the following set-up additions:

(Here is the current Google mobile litmus test as of 5/11/2007 8PM)


On the advanced PDA:

m.google.com redirects to http://m.google.com/m

google.com redirects to http://www.google.com/m

What up with the /mm's?

What do you guys think?

Google making a power statement? *FFLex*

Also, note how one can't "2 click" to AdWords (like on the PC site) still with your PDA "on the go"?

So what popular mobile formats can evolve for the power of the grassroots user (4 to 1 phones to PCs) to eventually have access to the full PC site version (with scrollbars) features "on the go" with the advanced PDA?

The mobile/pc solutions must recognize, greater, the demand issue for preservation of .com full PC information for PDA access "on the go".. of the current existing .com eco-system..



Kind Regards,

Yelo

 

[labrocca]

Hmm....I think I will start to create m-dot names. IMHO it makes the most sense.

That article also makes no mention of mobi.

The fact that Google has ditched mobi is paramount. So many failures up till this point and they keep adding up. Failure to launch a proper initiative to market mobi as the must have for mobile websites is going to hurt a lot of domainers that have invested in mobi.

This thread is gonna lite up like a Christmas tree in the next couple days.

I now don't have to worry about my 200 sites and getting a mobi name...if the trend is m.domain.tld then it's gonna be a winner. You can have .net, .org or whatever you want...but you certainly don't need to work on rebranding a new extension and confusing people. The average user just has no idea of mobi and maybe never will.

m.youtube.com
m.google.com
m.msn.com
m.ebay.com


"m dot" just sounds cool too. It really passes the radio test very well.

Now we gotta start grabbing every typo you can find with m in front of it. mgoogle.com, myoutube.com, mebay.com Get to work domainers...find what you can while you still can.

 

[gemulder]

Hmm....I think I will start to create m-dot names. IMHO it makes the most sense.

That article also makes no mention of mobi.

The fact that Google has ditched mobi is paramount. So many failures up till this point and they keep adding up. Failure to launch a proper initiative to market mobi as the must have for mobile websites is going to hurt a lot of domainers that have invested in mobi.

This thread is gonna lite up like a Christmas tree in the next couple days.

I now don't have to worry about my 200 sites and getting a mobi name...if the trend is m.domain.tld then it's gonna be a winner. You can have .net, .org or whatever you want...but you certainly don't need to work on rebranding a new extension and confusing people. The average user just has no idea of mobi and maybe never will.

m.youtube.com
m.google.com
m.msn.com
m.ebay.com


"m dot" just sounds cool too. It really passes the radio test very well.

Now we gotta start grabbing every typo you can find with m in front of it. mgoogle.com, myoutube.com, mebay.com Get to work domainers...find what you can while you still can.

You are not objective... What about the other artikel?
"Edwards also claimed that consumers won't necessarily have to key in the actual characters - .mobi - when visiting a site. That's because browsers from Access, Nokia and Openwave will automatically default to assuming that the user wants the .mobi domain, not the .com site."

 

[nrmillions]

Failure to launch a proper initiative to market mobi as the must have for mobile websites is going to hurt a lot of domainers that have invested in mobi.

The average user just has no idea of mobi and maybe never will.

m.youtube.com
m.google.com
m.msn.com
m.ebay.com

Its too early to be marketing .mobi websites when the extension is only 8 months old and there are hardly any sites yet. it would be the biggest waste of money to advertise for it right now. the average user doesnt know .mobi exists yet but the average user also doesnt know that m.whatever exists either, and the average person doesnt even use the internet on their phone yet either so does that mean the mobile web is going to die all together? I think .mobi and m.whatever can both coexist.

 

[circa1850]

The sooner, the better, but critical mass needs to be reached first. I predict early 2008, following the release of numerous premium .mobis and significant deals involving city/country .mobis... :imho: As we've seen with Helsinki.mobi, it doesn't take long to put such a site up.

Well put. When a city or country gets behind something like this, it is almost a source of pride.

As I mentioned previously, there is the branding, promotion, and the name recognition for .mobi that we will all enjoy and benefit from. At no cost to us.

Hi

Yelo

thanks...I finally get something you said :loveyou:

You are a cult.

 

[satsdifference.com]

Timing Critical

:hearts:

Hi

Is it good for all if http://polo.mobi is advertised today? Is the time arriving now, ripe? Is it better to be a little early to the party instead of being "too late"?

Both and beyond, I agree, may be the current temporary state - this also happens to discredit any anti-trust watch..

Whose in control?

Or, how much is this out of control?

Looking long term, using the advanced PDA currently is the symbol of the future.. (look at the msn.com site on your advanced PDA, it has long vertical scrollbars and NO horizontal scrollbars - Mobile/PC site design of the future?)

So if I was a company, wanting to inve$t in my mobile future, branding URL, I need to try to solve this mobile format equation asap.. for the present and long term, bigger picture at the same time.

(which may be also why we haven't seen many mobile site advertisements and the mobile movement has been relatively stagnated - who wants to waste expensive advertising dollars on marketing a phoney)

Would I advertise m.yahoo.com and chance the trend, or yahoo.mobi and chance the trend - Yahoo One Search commercials did not appear to choose recently..

This is hot in the corporate backrooms!

So why not just brand your existing .com with forced mobile redirect? Because of this unsolved problem:

A .COM developer doesn't know whether to keep the full site preserved for advanced PDA access (with scrollbars) or do a mobile device detect and mobile site version redirect on the .com for the lower end phones.. it seems like there is a split here.. an abyss like division..

Conceptually, the user typing in "m.brand.com" can solve this; but, a user typing in "brand.com" with a forced mobile redirect does not solve this matter.

With the m.brand.com notion, what will become PoPuLaR in the mainstream seems to become more and more where the race is..

What will be the global trend?

Now and Later?


Kind Regards,

Yelo

 

[Jeff]

Thoughts.

the m.site.com thing is an interesting development - looks like a marketing race... .mobi has big players behind it, but then m.google and m.yahoo could swing the tide all by themselves... there may be room for both to coexist, afterall, not every .com owns the .mobi too.

There may, over time, be coexistence ... but a uniform "M Dot" of existingand established .COM websites could be very easily marketed / branded, IMHO. In my view, it's a race against time for the .MOBI to establish itself and get ahead of this "M Dot" branding!

The .MOBI default, if it occurs, needs useful, developed websites in advance ... with the current statos of the initial FOUR RFP's, it is very much behind in this race, in my personal assessment. Things can change, so it will be interesting to watch it develop and unfold, yes. :talk:

I agree with this simple post on the site:

I think its the best option for companies going mobile. More sensible than going the .mobi route. Also auto detection can be a pain. I think we will continue to see this trend.

Chuka Eze on May 11th, 2007 at 11:54 AM

Regards.
-Jeff

 

[mjnels]

There may, over time, be coexistence ... but a uniform "M Dot" of existingand established .COM websites could be very easily marketed / branded, IMHO. In my view, it's a race against time for the .MOBI to establish itself and get ahead of this "M Dot" branding!

a race against time?

hehe... i dont think so.. if it is a race (and it isnt) then .mobi would win.

there is no business set up to actively brand/market the "m dot" domains.. it is just one of the many popular ways to access a mobile site right now:

m.domain.com
mobile.domain.com
domain.com/m
domain.com/mobile


who's to say that some website owners wouldnt prefer "domain.com/m" which is just as short as "m.domain.com".... so there again is what the MTLD is trying to do, set up ONE WAY to access "mobile sites"


a HUGE undertaking no doubt... which is why, rightfully so, many people are skeptical (YES, even me!) ....how much theyve done so far to brand/market mobi to the public or of make mobi the "default" is debatable... id say they havnt done very much thus far.. could this be because its still within the first year... i dont know, maybe.

 

[satsdifference.com]

Keeping in mind, the vision of ICANN

It may be perceived a mobile race, but it is not linear.. with corporate dynamics flashing..

I agree with what has been said, there are currently alot of ways to access the mobile web..

All exist and are part of the entire domain spectrum.. the question yet to be answered is how far this Dot Mobi can go.. to unify as much as possible the mobile space - like how windows revolution unified the pc world asap on one platform..

Keeping in mind, the vision of ICANN

They fight as champion of ONE world Internet.. no break-ups to private intranets..

It seems like part of the vision of ICANN is to have the suffix of a domain name (prefix.suffix) become meaningful.. with a role/function.. so there is a Google.com, Google.cn, Google.mobi, Google.tel to come..



Kind Regards,

Yelo

 

[Source]

m.dn.com is nothing new. It's been around for years as the defacto standard for mobile sites.

Why reg another, superfluous name if a subdomain will do? This is precisely why .mobi will fail. Simple economics and intuition.

 

[nombre]

There may, over time, be coexistence ... but a uniform "M Dot" of existingand established .COM websites could be very easily marketed / branded, IMHO. In my view, it's a race against time for the .MOBI to establish itself and get ahead of this "M Dot" branding!

i think that companies may well choose the "m dot" approach especially when their name is not available in dot mobi

but well heeled companies can afford to buy dot mobi's on the aftermarket and may well choose to do so

it may depend on how much a company wants to differentiate it's products and services .. some may prefer a "dot m" and some a mobi, many will have both pointing to the same page

i think .mobi is more saleable to the public, easier to remember and conveys the important idea that the domain is designed specifically for mobile users

it seems less confusing to the end user

but i do agree that "dot m" presents a challenge to mobi and jeff is correct, mobi needs to get out front as fast as possible

 

[nrmillions]

.mobi is not just meant to be a mobile version of .com websites. it is a completely different extension for anyone. One company could own ringtones.com and promote m.ringtones.com as their mobile version, and a totally different company could own ringtones.mobi and promote their site. Both versions would require some marketing for people to know they exist. m.whatever.com is also longer to type in than whatever.mobi.

 

[mirrorcube]

Domain.mobi is easier and more marketable than m.domain.extension or any other variation to me. Id trade a letter over a (.) and i think most consumers would also, but time will tell.

 

[mobidick]

With so many large companies already sitting on their TM-protected .mobi maybe mtld can target them more agressively with some kind of campaign, to entice these companies to redirect and/or mention their .mobi on their .com site as an option for their users to reach their mobile servings.

Once the momentum builds companies will be reluctant to miss the boat.

Offering premium placement on a .mobi directory might be one way, or perhaps offering free advertising or consulting for some of the big names. At least mtld knows who they all are and their contact info.

Any potential to this?

 

[mjnels]

m.dn.com is nothing new. It's been around for years as the defacto standard for mobile sites.

Why reg another, superfluous name if a subdomain will do? This is precisely why .mobi will fail. Simple economics and intuition.

who's intuition?

i have never once went to a "m.domain.com" website or "domain.com/m"

i just recently (within the last year) learned of this.

joe blow on the street doesnt know ANY of these ways..not m.domain.com not domain.com/m...notta... it might sound like they should know. but they dont. they dont know about mobi either. its a level playing field right about now, and .mobi has the advantage being ran like a business.

 

[namewaiter]

With so many large companies already sitting on their TM-protected .mobi maybe mtld can target them more agressively with some kind of campaign, to entice these companies to redirect and/or mention their .mobi on their .com site as an option for their users to reach their mobile servings.

Once the momentum builds companies will be reluctant to miss the boat.

i agree, and additionally...

like with any new extension, good generics will always be in demand. there's only 1 flowers.com, but maybe another 3-4,000 (just an estimate) flowersXXX.com or XXXflowers.com in use. and considering .mobi is different in the fact that it speaks diectly to mobile web, not just an alternative to .com, these generics could do very well for those that missed the boat. now getting the best available and usable generic flower .mobis might be a second chance for all those flower shops and services that had to settle for 4thstreetflowers.com and the like.

 

[thebiffenator]

I kind of like this saying in the last part of the article:
http://gigaom.com/2007/05/11/m-dot-...swer-to-mobile/

"Basically the M Dot is a symbol of how some of the Internet companies are thinking about the mobile web — come at it from a desktop perspective, and doing the easiest thing until a more standardized way comes around."

Especialy "and doing the easiest thing until a more standardized way comes around". HMMM I don't think I heard of a standardized way for mobile internet comin around soon has anyone else???? Also I dont think anyone is trying make standards in the mobile web! :sold: Does this ring a bell to anyone?