The official .mobi, .asia, .IDN sucks thread

[soggyindo]

The official .mobi/ .asia/ .me/ .TV sucks thread

It seems every good thread these days gets filled with .mobi/ .asia/ .IDN/ .TV/ .us, debates. So here's a thread we can have at it! We can also refer people here if things get heated.



I'll start with a neutral statement:

WTF is the point of .mobi?

 

[Rubber Duck]

Please define "promoted to the masses." Masses in which country? Media buys in what markets?

He is simply asking how will a Mass audience ever be sufficient aware and inspired by dot Mobi to bother typing it in the way people type in dot Com.

Type-ins are extremely important because they are a measure of the mindshare for a domain extension. This is how we know that IDN.com will succeed in Asia. Whilst type in and convertion is still dissappointingly small it still greatly exceed that on all ccTLD versions.

 

[Jeff]

What generic "dot Mobey" domains have been "sold" at Traffic (or Sedo) ... and are now fully developed "on the go" websites that are being used and promoted to the masses?
IYHO.

Please define "promoted to the masses." Masses in which country? Media buys in what markets?

Thank you for addressing these questions and concerns - going back to 2006 there are many, many items that need IMMEDIATE CLARIFICATION ... so I appreciate your post to get this started! :music:

Before we get to the more, I gather, subjective "masses" aspect ... first, what generic "dot Mobey" domains have been "sold" at Traffic (or Sedo) ... and are now fully developed "on the go" websites and are now generally being promoted? :gl:
IYHO.

Thanks again.
-Jeff

 

[mwzd]

I can hear the great roar of the IDN tsunami a few thousand miles away.

Just hope its not just another ordinary wave when it actually comes ashore.

I personally don't see the need for IDN either, except for exclusionary language speakers and countries... mostly where English is not used at all.

 

[Rubber Duck]

.com in itself has evolved as a ccTLD, it is just COMERICA!!

Actually that is nonsense. Germany is about the only place where it can honestly be said that dot Com has been almost totally sidelined by a ccTLD.

Yes, the American cornered the market in most of the top Generics if you purely look at English keywords, but dot com extends far beyond that.

Japan has 1 Million ccTLDs registered. Germany has 12 Million. Can anyone explain that discrepancy? Answers on a postcard.

I can hear the great roar of the IDN tsunami a few thousand miles away.

Just hope its not just another ordinary wave when it actually comes ashore.

I personally don't see the need for IDN either, except for exclusionary language speakers and countries... mostly where English is not used at all.

Try turning the telescope around and putting it to your good eye!

 

[Sam]

He is simply asking how will a Mass audience ever be sufficient aware and inspired by dot Mobi to bother typing it in the way people type in dot Com.

Type-ins are extremely important because they are a measure of the mindshare for a domain extension. This is how we know that IDN.com will succeed in Asia. Whilst type in and convertion is still dissappointingly small it still greatly exceed that on all ccTLD versions.

No way IDNs are overtaking cctlds in type in traffic right now! Right now the traffic is flowing in from every direction to the cctlds.

For Japan, one should look at the top traffic sites to see how much proportion .com vs local cctld is getting type in wise, not number of names registered.

Alexa: #1 - YAHOO.co.jp #3 - google.co.jp #5 - rakuten.co.jp #6 - mixi.jp #8 - nicovideo.jp #10 - goo.ne.jp.

Top 10 wise it looks like an even split to me.

 

[Rubber Duck]

No way IDNs are overtaking cctlds in type in traffic right now! Right now the traffic is flowing in from every direction to the cctlds.

For Japan, one should look at the top traffic sites to see how much proportion .com vs local cctld is getting type in wise, not number of names registered.

I think it was fairly clear that I meant IDN.ccTLDs unless you deliberately set out to read it incorrectly. Non IDNs are about to be sent to oblivion in countries where the majority of the script is not ASCII. That means just about everywhere from Germany to the International Date line if you neglect a few places like AU and NZ which really only have small populations anyway.

And please don't quote Alexa. It really only gives a vague indication within the Geek community of the USA.

 

[martina2061]

Yes, the American cornered the market in most of the top Generics if you purely look at English keywords, but dot com extends far beyond that.

Funnily enough, on this english speaking site, I was talking about generic english words.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Funnily enough, on this english speaking site, I was talking about generic english words.

That hardly means you have a monopoly over the extension, it just means that generally you are fortunate enough to have a better than average distribution.

As for Alexa.com:

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/alexa.com

What can I say?

 

[mwzd]

Try turning the telescope around and putting it to your good eye!

Thats the problem with seers... they hear with their eyes.

Maybe smell with their ears and see with their noses too?

 

[Sam]

I think it was fairly clear that I meant IDN.ccTLDs unless you deliberately set out to read it incorrectly. Non IDNs are about to be sent to oblivion in countries where the majority of the script is not ASCII. That means just about everywhere from Germany to the International Date line if you neglect a few places like AU and NZ which really only have small populations anyway.

And please don't quote Alexa. It really only gives a vague indication within the Geek community of the USA.

Respectfully disagree, at least for the old generation of surfers. Its going to take IMO a decade before ascii are truly "thrown out to oblivion". Big companies aren't going to change so fast, thus the mainstream surfer ain't going to change so fast. What makes you think Yahoo is going to get its own IDN name in japan anytime soon? Or Google for that matter?

FYI: .AU internet traffic wise is HUGE not a small market by any means. Most of the Spanish world and Latin languages will CONTINUE to use english transliteration since its easy enough to continue what they are doing right now.

Which basically means, the entire western world of internet surfers will continue to use ASCII for a long, long time, the prime market for online advertising and thus how much traffic is worth.

Now for asian languages, yes, it will change eventually.

Not nearly as fast as the IDN domainers think it will happen though.

Top 20 according to Overture (US):

myspace.com
google.com
yahoo.com
hotmail.com
aol.com
ebay.com
msn.com
89.com
ask.com
youtube.com
amazon.com
pogo.com
walmart.com
gmail.com
weather.com
facebook.com
wellsfargo.com
bankofamerica.com
target.com
cartoonnetwork.com
nick.com

Compare to Alexa:

google.com
yahoo.com
myspace.com
youtube.com
facebook.com
live.com
ebay.com
wikipedia.org
msn.com
craigslist.org
megarotic.com
amazon.com
aol.com
blogger.com
megaupload.com
go.com
imdb.com
photobucket.com

I see your point, but the fact is the #1-100 in top alexa for each country is pretty close to the top 100 of the country. Its pretty darn hard to fake alexa data to the two digits.

 

[jeremyp]

Fair enough, RJ ... I knew I wouldn't get any candor or honest answers from Jeremy, anyway! :imho:

Onward and upward, friends.
-Jeff

Too funny, Jeffrey!



After enjoying a varied, super busy lifestyle, it's always good to see my retired compatriot, clownin' and chillin' out at the NP. :great: _\|/_

 

[Rubber Duck]

Thats the problem with seers... they hear with their eyes.

Maybe smell with their ears and see with their noses too?

Well, when our so called No. 1 Guru tells us that the Chinese who use Chinese characters for the bulk of their content on 99% of their sites are going to all learn English so they can type in his Generics most of which seem to have I and E and WWW welded to the front, I would think that the average mollusc has more chance of divining market direction.

 

[martina2061]

That hardly means you have a monopoly over the extension, it just means that generally you are fortunate enough to have a better than average distribution

Not all ccTLDs are owned by their particular country or region. Comerica is still the case.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Do you seriously believe that Asian markets are going to be about the future of American brands?

I can tell you most of these companies have already set up IDN website including Google. It is just a question of what is push out front by their advertising budgets. They can simply run both side by side so there is no need to abandon one or the other. But at some point they are going to throw their advertising budgets where it has most impact on the bottom line.

You need to forget about Alexa. And Overture dot com is really only US traffic. For Japan there is a completely separate tool. Also you need to understand that Yahoo's coverage of the global search market is extremely patchy. So Overture statistics don't even exist for a lot of places. If you want to understand global markets, you need to step out of that bubble.

Respectfully disagree, at least for the old generation of surfers. Its going to take IMO a decade before ascii are truly "thrown out to oblivion". Big companies aren't going to change so fast, thus the mainstream surfer ain't going to change so fast. What makes you think Yahoo is going to get its own IDN name in japan anytime soon? Or Google for that matter?

FYI: .AU internet traffic wise is HUGE not a small market by any means. Most of the Spanish world and Latin languages will CONTINUE to use english transliteration since its easy enough to continue what they are doing right now.

Which basically means, the entire western world of internet surfers will continue to use ASCII for a long, long time, the prime market for online advertising and thus how much traffic is worth.

Now for asian languages, yes, it will change eventually.

Not nearly as fast as the IDN domainers think it will happen though.

Top 20 according to Overture (US):

myspace.com
google.com
yahoo.com
hotmail.com
aol.com
ebay.com
msn.com
89.com
ask.com
youtube.com
amazon.com
pogo.com
walmart.com
gmail.com
weather.com
facebook.com
wellsfargo.com
bankofamerica.com
target.com
cartoonnetwork.com
nick.com

Compare to Alexa:

google.com
yahoo.com
myspace.com
youtube.com
facebook.com
live.com
ebay.com
wikipedia.org
msn.com
craigslist.org
megarotic.com
amazon.com
aol.com
blogger.com
megaupload.com
go.com
imdb.com
photobucket.com

I see your point, but the fact is the #1-100 in top alexa for each country is pretty close to the top 100 of the country. Its pretty darn hard to fake alexa data to the two digits.

 

[Sam]

Do you seriously believe that Asian markets are going to be about the future of American brands?

I can tell you most of these companies have already set up IDN website including Google. It is just a question of what is push out front by their advertising budgets. They can simply run both side by side so there is no need to abandon one or the other. But at some point they are going to throw their advertising budgets where it has most impact on the bottom line.

Looks like IDNs aren't going to "take over the world" eh duck?

The world is not ASIA. ASCII is still going to dominate the market, the rich european / australian / american markets. South American PPC will have much more $$ then the asian markets for a long time. African PPC, meh

The only good PPC markets I can see for the immediate future is Korea and Japan. I'm sure you + olney + whoever was living in Japan/Korea have taken away that goldmine. Good for you!

Now if you have chinese names, its going to be a long long time before you make your $$$$$. Chinese traffic pays shiete.

And like it or not, many top websites in Asian countries have some American brands in it.

Oh I've stepped out of the bubble, I just don't go preaching what I am registering. That be just PLAIN STUPID. No need to spread the gospel, I'll make my $$$, no need to create hype threads or "educate" other domainers.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Well the best paying market is Russia. Most of Eastern Europe will adopt IDN fairly rapidly. If you think Czech Republic starts with a C then you have got a serious problem. It is becoming clear from research that already 80% of those online in India would like to access in langauges other than English. As for the this on going condescension towards China, they will bury you if you do not recognise the threat that their economic expansion poses. As for speaking English to Arabs, well it didn't seem to work very well when Bush asked the Saudis for more oil. :lol:

Looks like IDNs aren't going to "take over the world" eh duck?

The world is not ASIA. ASCII is still going to dominate the market, the rich european / australian / american markets. South American PPC will have much more $$ then the asian markets for a long time. African PPC, meh

The only good PPC markets I can see for the immediate future is Korea and Japan. I'm sure you + olney + whoever was living in Japan/Korea have taken away that goldmine. Good for you!

Now if you have chinese names, its going to be a long long time before you make your $$$$$. Chinese traffic pays shiete.

And like it or not, many top websites in Asian countries have some American brands in it.

 

[Sam]

Well the best paying market is Russia. Most of Eastern Europe will adopt IDN fairly rapidly. If you think Czech Republic starts with a C then you have got a serious problem. It is becoming clear from research that already 80% of those online in India would like to access in langauges other than English. As for the this on going condescension towards China, they will bury you if you do not recognise the threat that their economic expansion poses. As for speaking English to Arabs, well it didn't seem to work very well when Bush asked the Saudis for more oil. :lol:

Russia, shit forgot about that, they pay well? Alas, I'm not experienced in the russian market. Yes, Cyrillic countries could pay off eventually, but again their PPC is shiet. My .ro names were making 2-3 cents a click. Absolute SHIET! Sold them all off at minimal profit. My few eastern European cctld names are barely covering renewal fee, good enough though.

Arabic market, I don't even bother with that. Too hard to learn, I'll leave that to the arabs to monopolize.

India internet traffic is horrendous compared to the rest of the world. Its going to take a while to wire everyone. It will take a while before it catches up to china in terms of percent of population who has regular access to the internet.

IMO, Chinese ppc won't ever become $$$$$ in the near future, I just don't see how the majority "average" chinese will be able to afford online purchases. I see traditional shops still holding the majority of "traffic".

I am Asian-American so I know the workings. Taiwanese traffic on the other hand, potential bonanza in terms of internet market share, do they have .TW idns?

 

[mwzd]

It is becoming clear from research that already 80% of those online in India would like to access in langauges other than English.

What research? Can I please get access to it?

Of all the language sites I've seen online I can't see one thats making a dent standalone, mostly translations of existing portals are getting some visits, nowhere near what they get for English btw.

Whoever said Bush spoke English? He speaks American, that too not to well.

 

[Jeff]

After enjoying a varied, super busy lifestyle, it's always good to see my retired compatriot, clownin' and chillin' out at the NP. :great: _\|/_

That's great, thanks Jeremy ... if you could please address the "dot Mobey" / mTLD QUESTIONS and CONCERNS, it would be appreciated!

1,000's and 1,000's+/+ of reserved domains are still languishing in the exclusive ownership of mTLD ... how can you reconcile this in the face of the iPhone and other emerging, advancing mobile technologies (that favor established extensions such as the .COM!) that have rendered the long and clumsy and unbrandable ".MOBI" extension essentially obsolete?

-Jeff

 

[Rubber Duck]

I wouldn't write the Chinese and the Arabs so easily. America is bleeding at the moment and these guys are cleaning up. Personally, I would see the Chinese economy bigger than USA somewhere around 2015, but certainly no later than 2020. If you are ever going to make a record amount on a novelty domain, then look to the Arab, Indian or Russian buyers. These guys have serious money and serious egos. Have you any idea what UAE number plates go for?

Yes, you can get IDN in dot TW, but most of the Tawainese in the game are into dot Com. If you can read Chinese, go to IDNclub.com. What is more most of them are much more interested in Simplified than Traditional.

Russia, shit forgot about that, they pay well? Alas, I'm not experienced in the russian market. Yes, Cyrillic countries could pay off eventually, but again their PPC is shiet. My .ro names were making 2-3 cents a click. Absolute SHIET! Sold them all off at minimal profit. My few eastern European cctld names are barely covering renewal fee, good enough though.

Arabic market, I don't even bother with that. Too hard to learn, I'll leave that to the arabs to monopolize.

India internet traffic is horrendous compared to the rest of the world. Its going to take a while to wire everyone. It will take a while before it catches up to china in terms of percent of population who has regular access to the internet.

IMO, Chinese ppc won't ever become $$$$$ in the near future, I just don't see how the majority "average" chinese will be able to afford online purchases. I see traditional shops still holding the majority of "traffic".

I am Asian-American so I know the workings. Taiwanese traffic on the other hand, potential bonanza in terms of internet market share, do they have .TW idns?