.mobi The One Thing That'll Make .mobi A Success

[sashas]

I don't have many .mobi names (just one! And thats a brandable, not a keyword name), but I was using my friends iPhone today, and it occurred to me that mobile browsing will really really hit it off in the future, if the iPhone is the shape of things to come (which it is).

But the problem was, when I typed in a website name WITHOUT any extension in the address bar, it took me automatically to the .com version of that site.

Now if somehow mobile browsers could be configured to go directly to the .mobi site of a website, then the .mobi would really really kick off.
Like in Firefox or IE, if you type in only 'gmail' at the address bar, it automatically takes you to gmail.com. So .com is the default extension of IE and FireFox.

If Safari, or mobile IE could be made to go to .mobi directly, such that when one types in 'gmail', it takes them to 'gmail.mobi' instead of 'gmail.com' on their mobiles, that would be the killer shot.

So does anyone have any information whether such an idea is being implemented? I don't see this as being too hard, just getting the software designers at Mozilla, Microsoft and Apple to make .mobi the default extension, and I do believe that the .mobi registry has enough power to get this done.

 

[-REECE-]

I don't have many .mobi names (just one! And thats a brandable, not a keyword name), but I was using my friends iPhone today, and it occurred to me that mobile browsing will really really hit it off in the future, if the iPhone is the shape of things to come (which it is).

But the problem was, when I typed in a website name WITHOUT any extension in the address bar, it took me automatically to the .com version of that site.

Now if somehow mobile browsers could be configured to go directly to the .mobi site of a website, then the .mobi would really really kick off.
Like in Firefox or IE, if you type in only 'gmail' at the address bar, it automatically takes you to gmail.com. So .com is the default extension of IE and FireFox.

If Safari, or mobile IE could be made to go to .mobi directly, such that when one types in 'gmail', it takes them to 'gmail.mobi' instead of 'gmail.com' on their mobiles, that would be the killer shot.

So does anyone have any information whether such an idea is being implemented? I don't see this as being too hard, just getting the software designers at Mozilla, Microsoft and Apple to make .mobi the default extension, and I do believe that the .mobi registry has enough power to get this done.

No word on such plans currently (although some may argue they are "happening behind the scenes"). I certainly agree that defaulting to .mobi would guarantee success -- perhaps this is one of the main reasons .com won out against .net (or at least why their values or so different).

 

[garrett200]

As Reece said, there's no hard evidence this is ever going to happen. But if it does, it is the holy grail for .mobi and for all of us here who own keyword names.

If this happens on a large scale, i.e. most carriers adopt .mobi default, I would go so far as to say that half of us here will be millionaires.

 

[sashas]

As Reece said, there's no hard evidence this is ever going to happen. But if it does, it is the holy grail for .mobi and for all of us here who own keyword names.

If this happens on a large scale, i.e. most carriers adopt .mobi default, I would go so far as to say that half of us here will be millionaires.

Millionaires would be pushing it, but half of you would be worth more than 100k easily.

 

[accent]

Apple hates Mobi - perhaps because Microsoft is a backer. So don't look for any help from Apple.

.Mobi defaults were mentioned in the original press releases from the .Mobi registry and have not been mentioned much since then. Seems like Mr. Pinky replied "working on it" to the question when he was here.

 

[Pred]

it'll default to the com , then no default is my guess.
i dont think personally it will default to the mobi ever, but theres no harm in hoping. lol

 

[-REECE-]

Just got a wacky idea

What if mtld were to sell those 500 premiums and use the money (at 20k each, they'd make $10 mm) to "purchase" the rights to the mobile internet being installed on a particular phone company's phones -- or even a single model of a company's phone (say, Nokia since they're a big backer) for a certain period of time.

What amount of marketing and awareness campaigns could ever rival that in effectiveness (of course, assuming the price for such is reasonable)?

 

[onassis]

Epicatechin.com development purpose. Can share??

Just got a wacky idea

What if mtld were to sell those 500 premiums and use the money (at 20k each, they'd make $10 mm) to "purchase" the rights to the mobile internet being installed on a particular phone company's phones -- or even a single model of a company's phone (say, Nokia since they're a big backer) for a certain period of time.

What amount of marketing and awareness campaigns could ever rival that in effectiveness (of course, assuming the price for such is reasonable)?

 

[sf2010]

Just got a wacky idea

What if mtld were to sell those 500 premiums and use the money (at 20k each, they'd make $10 mm) to "purchase" the rights to the mobile internet being installed on a particular phone company's phones -- or even a single model of a company's phone (say, Nokia since they're a big backer) for a certain period of time.

What amount of marketing and awareness campaigns could ever rival that in effectiveness (of course, assuming the price for such is reasonable)?

I think this is a good idea, but as we all know, carriers decide which phone functions will be crippled or not. So mTLD would have to come up with some creative solutions to get around this isuue, especially VZW's official view on mobi is not favorable.

 

[maxwellsmart]

It truly is the "holy grail", but it's the chicken and egg thing. The companies will not do it until there is significant content on .mobi sites. When the public is interested someone like Nokia may come out with the ".mobi" button

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

It truly is the "holy grail", but it's the chicken and egg thing. The companies will not do it until there is significant content on .mobi sites. When the public is interested someone like Nokia may come out with the ".mobi" button

I think this is the most likely scenario, should we get a backer like Nokia.

 

[garrett200]

We're going to be laughing reading back these posts 10 years from now, if every phone has a .mobi button.

Maybe even laughing all the way to the bank. :hehe:

 

[sashas]

It truly is the "holy grail", but it's the chicken and egg thing. The companies will not do it until there is significant content on .mobi sites. When the public is interested someone like Nokia may come out with the ".mobi" button

I second that. You don't want to make the .mobi the default extension, and when someone types in 'games', they get taken to a parked page (or worse, that germany.com like page)

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

BTW, Garrett, how's the developing coming?

 

[garrett200]

BTW, Garrett, how's the developing coming?

Working on it. Don't want to go into any details until some sites are done. It's going to be a while.

Working on one in particular that I hope is going to be huge. You'll hear more about it later.

 

[Pred]

Working on it. Don't want to go into any details until some sites are done. It's going to be a while.

Working on one in particular that I hope is going to be huge. You'll hear more about it later.

Good luck bro.
I'm the same, just about to take couple months off from everything to develop some coms & mobis
Gotta keep away from boards & yakking!
Gotta do some travelling too,
exciting times ahead.
Really looking forward to getting heaps of sites developed though. Good luck to you too.

 

[izo-pod]

The reason the iPHone defaults to .com is because there is way more content on .com (even with the PPC pages) than all other extensions combined.

Since .mobi is new it is a no-brainer that phones won't be defaulting to it anytime soon.

HOWEVER

If enough companies begin to market their "mobile" websites with dot mobi this could QUICKLY change overnight.

To be honest with you I'm shocked to see people advertising their .mobi addresses. The Chief Marketing Officers of those companies have some balls for sure. But they are smart, because the addresses do standout, and immediately you know it's a mobile site.

 

[-REECE-]

The reason the iPHone defaults to .com is because there is way more content on .com (even with the PPC pages) than all other extensions combined.

Since .mobi is new it is a no-brainer that phones won't be defaulting to it anytime soon.

HOWEVER

If enough companies begin to market their "mobile" websites with dot mobi this could QUICKLY change overnight.

To be honest with you I'm shocked to see people advertising their .mobi addresses. The Chief Marketing Officers of those companies have some balls for sure. But they are smart, because the addresses do standout, and immediately you know it's a mobile site.

Very well said. You definitely need someone with both balls and great wisdom to justify making a multi-million dollar ad campaign using .mobi exclusively at this time. As for content -- as you said, it could certainly change rapidly... If I was 100% confident my names would be worth a high percentage of what equivalent .coms go for, I'd spare no expense taking out a loan if need be and hiring the necessary staff to get my names developed asap. I'm sure I'm not alone there... Time is money afterall

 

[scandiman]

The reason the iPHone defaults to .com is because there is way more content on .com (even with the PPC pages) than all other extensions combined.

Since .mobi is new it is a no-brainer that phones won't be defaulting to it anytime soon.

HOWEVER

If enough companies begin to market their "mobile" websites with dot mobi this could QUICKLY change overnight.

To be honest with you I'm shocked to see people advertising their .mobi addresses. The Chief Marketing Officers of those companies have some balls for sure. But they are smart, because the addresses do standout, and immediately you know it's a mobile site.

Nice to see such common sense being contributed here.

 

[garrett200]

I think just the opposite. If they put a .mobi default, the content will quickly follow. It's like putting a golden egg in front of a crowd, they will all try to go and grab it. Something like that could really jump start the extension. Within a few months you'd see thousands of developed sites. A HUGE incentive for development.

The biggest chance for a default is from Nokia, I think. All I can hope is that mTLD is working "behind the scenes" with the backers to make the default thing happen, even if it's only on a small scale to start with.

On the other hand, I might be dreaming in Technicolor .

Rose colored glasses? Who me??? :notme: