.mobi Something I am not quite able to grasp

[binaryman]

Something I am not quite able to grasp.
With these so called Ultra mobile pc's you are apparently able to get a full internet experience like you would behind your PC at home. So if this is true then what is the purpose of internet on a mobile phone such as .mobi? Or am I missing something? Just have a look at how the pages render on these devices using the new Microsoft Internet Explorer 7..Beautiful..
http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2006/10/internet_explor.html


http://www.intel.com/design/mobile/platform/devices.htm

Click on the product in action link to see the device in action.
http://www.intel.com/design/mobile/platform/umpc.htm

 

[GoDesign]

Good question, one which i've often wondered myself. Can only think its because people allways seem to wan't more gadgets on their mobile phone,including internet,i just put it down to techies wanting the latest products, and the makers of the mobiles pushing them that way.
Maybe .mobi won't be directed at mobile phones in the end, and the mobi will simply stand for any device that happens to be mobile. i can only ever see people being interested in a 'quick internet fix' on their mobi's for a good few years to come yet.
GD.

 

[Domainate.com]

You're not missing something. I have asked this question to several .mobi lovers about what happens when mobile devices render the internet as PCs do and make it easier to navigate through, only to get a response like "it's not going to happen". That's why I've been of the opinion that .mobi is actually AGAINST the advancement of the internet on mobile devices. That said, it may see a lot of success in the meantime.

 

[gamehouse]

Thats a valid question, imho. There are other valid questions. At the end success is wished for everyone. I still believe internet as it evolves in to mobile market may create new inventions and needs or needs and inventions as against .mobi leading the way as it is being totted around.

GH

 

[hawkeye]

I think it will boil down to the size of the device you want to carry around with you, and how you'd like your content viewable. With a smaller device, weight and screen size, going to a .mobi site should be a 'lock' so to speak, to have content that will fit the smaller screen without having to toggle the page all around to read and view. With a laptop, portable pc etc. device, you'd have a bigger screen to view and read sites as they are now. You can hang a Palm or Phone on your belt, but a bigger device might be tough! I think that .mobi is really being geared to the smaller devices, that are more mobile and easy to carry, and will thus be used by more people on the go.

IMO

 

[dag]

So if this is true then what is the purpose of internet on a mobile phone such as .mobi? Or am I missing something?

What you're missing is that UMPCs are more in competition with laptop and tablet computers than with mobile phones, PDAs, and the like. A UMPC screen is considered "small" at 7 inches -- bigger itself than most cell phones. No one is going to cart around a UMPC as their cell phone, so you shouldn't be thinking of them as equivalent. Yes, a UMPC is a "mobile" computing environment, but it's not the area that .MOBI is meant to be used for (although it would work fine there as well, of course). There will still be plenty of use for smaller Web-enabled devices as long as access costs come down and access speeds increase.

 

[oldtimer]

In my opinion as the mobile technology advances the line between mobile phones and portable PC’s will gradually disappear, ultimately there might not be a need for a specific extension for mobile devices from the technical point of view. In the future most mobile devices will be able to access all websites irregardless of the extension, what is going to make the difference will be the content of the websites associated with each extension. If the websites with the .mobi extension prove themselves to be more useful and down to the point for people on the go then people might prefer visiting .mobi websites over others. So most likely .mobi will end up being a state of mind for people who are on the go similar to people that are already used to associating .org for organizations or .edu for educational institutions and know that the websites with those extensions are more likely to meet their needs if they are searching for something in those categories.

 

[dag]

In my opinion as the mobile technology advances the line between mobile phones and portable PC’s will gradually disappear, ultimately there might not be a need for a specific extension for mobile devices from the technical point of view. In the future most mobile devices will be able to access all websites irregardless of the extension, what is going to make the difference will be the content of the websites associated with each extension. If the websites with the .mobi extension prove themselves to be more useful and down to the point for people on the go then people might prefer visiting .mobi websites over others. So most likely .mobi will end up being a state of mind for people who are on the go similar to people that are already used to associating .org for organizations or .edu for educational institutions and know that the websites with those extensions are more likely to meet their needs if they are searching for something in those categories.

True enough, but I still feel there will be a dividing line in the mobile phone/portable PC world, based not on computing power/speed but on screen size. No matter what a cellphone-sized device is capable of, the screen can only get so large before the whole device becomes too large to comfortably use as a phone. And I suspect that most cellphone service providers will continue to offer Web browsing, so there would continue to be a use/need for small-screen Web browsing.

Of course, I'm only addressing the technology in the short term (say, 5-10 years) -- who knows what will eventually come along to replace everything we use today. "In-brain" browsers, where you see the screen only in your mind thanks to implanted technology? No need for .mobi in that case... :cy:

 

[verbster]

There will most likely be some sort of device recognition/translation so that Internet or other content will be delivered as optioned or as auto-defaulted by translation. In the end, the extension probably won't matter at all for general content.

 

[mobidick]

1) there will always be a need for small screen devices.

2) eventually the next generation growing up on mobiles will almost all carry a mobile phone with them, so the market is potentially huge, even if smaller screens become the minority. Many people are already replacing their landlines with mobile phone only.

3) .mobi represents 'mobile-friendly' content, especially important wherever and whenever data plans are expensive and data transfer rates slow.

4).mobi doesn't have to mean 'small only'; there should be nothing to stop a .mobi server to be able to upsize content to match the mobile's screen, bandwidth and other media capabilities, so long as it serves the common denominator well. Standards will evolve, so even small will mean rich delivery in the form of flash, java, etc. In other words, .mobi can be seen as a .com with the added promise of serving up mobile-friendly content by default - but who is going to complain if your .mobi site serves up a full rich desktop experience when you surf it from home? Afterall, a site could provide a variety of web-app functions... mobile-size functions on the go and serve up big pages for backend admin type functions when the user is at home. This could be automated or based on user selection.

5) great .mobi names - memorable meaningful names will hold great potential value in any case, even if .mobi doesn't become a default for mobile browsers. There is nothing specially meaningful about the .com tld, except that it already has tons of content invested in it.

6) The .mobi tld may or may not become a type-in traffic generator (that is the big question for .mobi generics), but if it does you will see a huge surge in .mobi values.

7) .mobi will still look good in search engines, especially those searching from mobiles for mobile sites. It represents something specifically useful as opposed to a .biz

8) it will have worldwide relevance.

9) .mobi may be a few years late, but it still more or less coincides with the birth of a new era of mobile surfing, so it is an integral part of breaking new ground, as opposed to say a .info which just aims at redefining whats already there.

10) there are billions of mobile users - this market is huge and virtually just getting started - look ahead - no matter what mobile-conversion browsers are capable of or what tld becomes the mobile standard, a .mobi name is a piece of very useable and promising realestate.

 

[-db-]

What you're missing is that UMPCs are more in competition with laptop and tablet computers than with mobile phones, PDAs, and the like. A UMPC screen is considered "small" at 7 inches -- bigger itself than most cell phones. No one is going to cart around a UMPC as their cell phone, so you shouldn't be thinking of them as equivalent.

I agree, and I think this is important, because size DOES matter in this case.

The UMPC's are more powerful, and they display the web in a way that is more comfortable to most of us, BUT... I'm not sure they will ever replace the mobile phone, because you can't fit them into your pocket.

I'm still not completely convinced about the future of .Mobi, but I don't see the UMPC as a threat to the overall purpose and goal of the extension.

That being said, I still want one! (a UMPC)

 

[GoPC]

How about a GoPC? Much better name for the device than "UMPC" or "Origami" or "oqo" or any other of the rediculous names these things have. But that's another topic...

There is ONE fact to answer the questions of this thread... Why an internet for phones with all the other portables out there?

Cell Phones outnumber PCs over 4 to 1.

Pure and simple... even as technology allows for PCs to get smaller, cell phones continue to get smarter but are still, in the end, cell phones.

So what are cell phones? Besides being a device primarily for communication, they are small, limited in power, memory, processing and video horsepower. The emphasis to put more video capabilities and processing power into them is simply not there because it doesn't matter how powerful you make the phone, the size limitation of the screens makes intense website graphics simply to small to see.

So while the natural progression is to make the phone smarter, it is also to make the phone smaller. As such, there isn't any motivation to make them more capable of rich page content.

THAT is what GoPCs are for.

That is also what .mobi is for... websites that ARE designed for phones, that DO work withing the size and power and memory capabilities of cell phones and bring content and access to over 400% MORE USERS than PCs.

It's pretty simple really. It's a niche market and the people that back .mobi arecatering to it. It just happens to be in a HUGE market niche with devices that cost a 10th to a 3rd of the price of the cheapest portable pc and half of common PDAs.

More users, less cost, captive market.... what else is there?



GoPC

 

[domaindigger]

People want mobility.

Mobility = Small size
Small size = Small screen
Small screen = Small webpages
Small webpages = .mobi

So people want .mobi.

I don't see the average user carrying a brick-sized UMPC around with them all day long ("is that a UMPC in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?").

 

[binaryman]

OK thnx, I grasp it now