.mobi Pinky Brand's Response to Recent .MOBI Auction/Doom and Gloom

[NewWorldArk]

2/29/08

I take issue with the statement that dotMobi is "popularly believed to be doomed" and believe prices people are paying for .mobi Premium Names reflect smart acquisitions by smart people.

Some of the arguments I hear against .mobi and/or the prices people are paying are similar to those I heard years ago against ccTLDs and even .com itself. Popular dissent in the late 90's and early 00's suggested doom for .com and ccTLDs because search engines were surging in popularity—when there were only about 15 million domain names in total. "Who needs domain names when a search engine will take you there?" was one argument I vividly recall. "Over time domain names will become irrelevant" was the thought of too many to count. "Who needs ccTLDs when we have .com?" was another theme heard ad nauseam. People thought my partner and I were nuts when we paid $150,000 for business.com in 1997 and started a business registering ccTLDs. And now we're all talking here today.

So my point is this---.mobi is not doomed. It is thriving and supported by an incredibly talented worldwide team and a slew of big-time diverse investors with great resources. It is supported by the developer community. It is supported by many domainers who have a history of incredible success---and we thank the domainer community for that support. It is supported by our good registrar partners around the world. It is also supported more and more by large corporations who must not only invest just $10 or $15 dollars registering a .mobi name, but commit tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to internally vet, find and hire an agency who understands mobile (many don’t yet), develop a mobile presence and then promote that presence via a dotMobi name, as many leading organizations in several verticals are now doing.

Also, hard statistics and reliable forecast data indicate moving forward the vast majority of people with access to the Internet around the planet will only have such access via their mobile phone for the foreseable future. They will not have any desktop PC habits to replicate or abandon. There is an entire generation of tens of millions coming at us very fast who will be completely raised on mobile Internet access. dotMobi is perfectly positioned to take advantage of these macro trends.

Thus IMHO the prices people are paying today for names from our Premium Name inventory reflect that the market believes in the mobile Internet and is bullish on dotMobi's approach to improving the mobile browsing experience and eventual traffic that flows from such an improved experience.

And FYI, for anyone who is interesting talking face-to-face about all this and more, I invite you to chime in and tell me what city would be most convenient for you to come to a local dotMobi Happening event. The drinks and chow will be on us and they will be casual and conversational. Plus maybe a surprise or two. Vote for your city or region at http://www.polldaddy.com/poll.aspx?p=317439 before March 4th. To learn more about the dotMobi Happenings you can visit my personal page at http://www.pinkybrand.com/eventspeople.html.

 

[hawkeye]

Nice find NWA. a rep to ya.

 

[accent]

Pinky is a smart guy - but I sure did not know he used to own Business.com.

Those with patience and vision may do very well here.

 

[snoop]

Seems mtld is making an awful lot of "the extension is not screwed" statements lately.

 

[mjnels]

Seems mtld is making an awful lot of "the extension is not screwed" statements lately.

yea, that must mean the extention is really screwed then.

 

[snoop]

yea, that must mean the extention is really screwed then.

I think alot of people would take it that way, bad sign that the mtld feels the need to be making these types of statements.

 

[Keith]

Seems mtld is making an awful lot of "the extension is not screwed" statements lately.

Heaven forbid a company actually make statements
regarding their product. Seems logical to me

 

[mjnels]

I think alot of people would take it that way, bad sign that the mtld feels the need to be making these types of statements.

that way of thinking sounds like more hype to me...they've actually been responding to blogs/articles since the TLD came out in 2006..

either way, we can make it mean whatever we want it to mean..... mTLD responds to a blog/article means they are desperate..... mTLD doesnt respond to blog/article means they dont care and dont have an answer and dont pay attention to what others say/think.

 

[snoop]

Heaven forbid a company actually make statements
regarding their product. Seems logical to me

How often do you see a company come out and say their product isn't headed for disaster?

Imagine if a carmaker came out and said their cars "weren't lemons" or if the a media company put out a statement that their newspaper was definately not dying?

People have been saying this extension has been doomed from Day 1, so why is is Pinky on the backfoot now? Only a company that is truly worried about how things are going would react is such a manner. The reason they are making a noise now is because prices are heading south and interest is waning.

that way of thinking sounds like more hype to me...they've actually been responding to blogs/articles since the TLD came out in 2006..

Right, they respond in forums on blogs sometimes, but I've never seen them respond to a comment like this, it is the kind of thing that would normally be ignored/laughed off.

 

[mjnels]

Right, they respond in forums on blogs sometimes, but I've never seen them respond to a comment like this, it is the kind of thing that would normally be ignored/laughed off.

maybe... speculation is fun, hey thats why i got into .mobi :tu:

 

[Keith]

How often do you see a company come out and say their product isn't headed for disaster?

Imagine if a carmaker came out and said their cars "weren't lemons" or if the a media company put out a statement that their newspaper was definately not dying?

People have been saying this extension has been doomed from Day 1, so why is is Pinky on the backfoot now? Only a company that is truly worried about how things are going would react is such a manner. The reason they are making a noise now is because prices are heading south and interest is waning.

An automaker (or any company for that matter) would defend itself if there were whispers going around that their product was no good. Especially if it was a fairly new product to the market.

Now being that .mobi is still on the newer side, don't you find it silly that people have to bash it instead of giving time to evolve? The truth is, the mobile web has not been controlled by any one entity yet because it is so new. So, why not wait before making assumptions that something will fail until all the cards are dealt?

I think that some people have fears that mobi (or something like it) could change the internet as we know it. I am confident that in the near future, people will move away from the pc and gravitate toward mobile devices. Other people know it too and are afraid of what may become of their traditional portfolios.

Also, what evidence is there that mobi is going down south? Is it foxnews advertising their .mobi to millions? Is it people being smart and thinning out their portfolios at renewal time? I fail to see any real evidence to back your statement.

 

[hedgefund]

Patient is a virtue.

 

[teabag]

If only terms ".MOBI" and "Mobile Internet" were equal - i wouldn't worry
about every cent invested into .MOBI extention, but it's still unknown
for us and (what is more important) for Mtld as well.

 

[GeoOwners]

actually a few years back GM publically apologised for the terrible quality of their cars and promised to do better...GM is the largest car co on the world

 

[labrocca]

actually a few years back GM publically apologised for the terrible quality of their cars and promised to do better...GM is the largest car co on the world

GM is a publically traded company with share holders to answer to. mTLD is just trying to keep domainers buying. There is a difference.

Oh and GM recently announced a HUGE loss...$39 BILLION for 2007.

 

[snoop]

Also, what evidence is there that mobi is going down south? Is it foxnews advertising their .mobi to millions? Is it people being smart and thinning out their portfolios at renewal time? I fail to see any real evidence to back your statement.

Did you miss the last lot of .mobi auctions? Prices were a fraction of expectations. Try and find someone who thought porn.mobi would sell for 100k beforehand.

 

[hawkeye]

Did you miss the last lot of .mobi auctions? Prices were a fraction of expectations. Try and find someone who thought porn.mobi would sell for 100k beforehand.

Nice try snoop, but if you look at the prices for the last few auctions, even .coms are down in prices. I was at the DomainFest and Affiliate Summit auctions, and people were either 'not' buying names, or getting nice deals on the ones they did! Offer.com went for $180K. Now maybe you feel that's market for that name, but others don't. So trying to knock .mobi auction prices, and not taken in the fact that all extensions are down in pricing too, is lame mobi bashing.

 

[snoop]

Nice try snoop, but if you look at the prices for the last few auctions, even .coms are down in prices. I was at the DomainFest and Affiliate Summit auctions, and people were either 'not' buying names, or getting nice deals on the ones they did! Offer.com went for $180K. Now maybe you feel that's market for that name, but others don't. So trying to knock .mobi auction prices, and not taken in the fact that all extensions are down in pricing too, is lame mobi bashing.

100% right about .com being down as well (except some of the acronym stuff). .mobi prices have been hit much harder than the rest of the market though in my view. I think those .mobi prices were 20%-30% of what people were expecting. Take a look at some of the old threads before the auction and compare it what actually happened.

 

[hawkeye]

.mobi prices have been hit much harder than the rest of the market though in my view. I think those .mobi prices were 20%-30% of what people were expecting. Take a look at some of the old threads before the auction and compare it what actually happened.

Come on now, you know better than anyone that 'invested domainer expectations' in a 1 1/2 year old extension is really no way judge or base prices! What does one think they 'expect' (spelt w-i-s-h) them to sell for? .mobi is still preforming better than any other 'released after the main 3' extension has in this time frame! And out selling them price comparisonally too, though the others have been out for 3 times as long, and are more known. The only ones that have 'judgements' and 'expectations' for what .mobi's sell for, are those that run opposed to it, and/or are .com invested. (along with with their newbie tagalongs) (oh yeah, and that budgie clown too)

 

[namewaiter]

100% right about .com being down as well (except some of the acronym stuff). .mobi prices have been hit much harder than the rest of the market though in my view. I think those .mobi prices were 20%-30% of what people were expecting. Take a look at some of the old threads before the auction and compare it what actually happened.

people had a right to be optimistic ... looking at the last auction debacle which had music.mobi sell for $616K and games.mobi sell for over $400K.

$110K for porn.mobi by no means points to a down market, just a less than expected result from an alternate auction avenue.

sell the same grade of a classic car at two different events with different types of participants and participantion and you will likely get two very different buy prices.