The only viable tel monetization plan I have heard about on this forum relates to creating a directory listing. Thats fine, but I have seen a bunch of such listings appearing on mobi domains and they are simply not compelling. I personally would rather just google a keyword that look through such a limited site.
Aren't directories of links basically the same as parked domains?
The main news at the moment regarding domains is that ppc revenue on parked domains is in decline. My experience in parking in a new TLD such as mobi is that it is not viable/profitable even for extremely generic premium names. That is why there is so much talk in the industry about development. One needs to develop a site at a domain to attract traffic. If it is not possible to develop a site beyond a directory/listing on a tel domain, I can't see this as a viable business model beyond making a few pennies. I am not a naysayer I just don't understand how to monetize.
If there were some way to auto forward from a tel to some other random developed site, then it has a lot of potential to boost traffic to that site. However ICANN has specifically said it will not allow new TLDs that conflict with existing TLDs, so I think if you can auto-forward it would conflict with the mobi TLD and so I would guess it is probably not allowed or possible.
Otherwise the only use I see for .tel is the use that it is intended for, as a contact point. I have registered two tels relating to my name for this purpose. I am quite content to get them and plan to use them, but I don't expect to monetize them.
Please correct me if I am missing something here, some future killer application.
