.mobi To the Mobi Skeptics

[FathomJH]

How can someone not believe in Mobi? I was 14 in the mid-90's, so I didn't have a chance to buy the .coms, but Mobi is getting bigger each day. Sure the extra extension is not necessary, but when you get the top internet and mobile names in the world supporting the extension, it's going to work. Have you seen the latest orbitz.com commercial? They pick a hotel on their cell phone. Have you seen gmail lately? They are making a fast email service for your cell. Have you seen Cingular? They are going to offer satellite music to your cell phone. Nothing is certain, but this is getting pretty big. 218,000 names bought so far in 104 countries??? Sure many be only parked, but many are not.

Don't rebuttal and say, "It will segregate the internet." - Irrelevant
Don't say, "People will get confused typing in URL's.'
Don't say "Companies have to create a second site."

These statements will never keep Mobi from growing. People say these over and over and over and it's not working. Mobi-is-here-to-stay.

 

[RJ]

>> How can someone not believe in Mobi?

>> I was 14 in the mid-90's, so I didn't have a chance to buy the .coms,

Irrelevant.

>> but Mobi is getting bigger each day.

With speculators, yes.

>> Sure the extra extension is not necessary,

You want to admit that right up front? Eek!

>> but when you get the top internet and mobile names in the world supporting the extension, it's going to work.

That is the only way its going to work. If these big backers don't follow through, .MOBI may be doomed to a .NAME-like fate.

>> Have you seen the latest orbitz.com commercial? They pick a hotel on their cell phone.

Using a .COM domain.

>> Have you seen gmail lately? They are making a fast email service for your cell.

Using a .COM domain.

>> Have you seen Cingular? They are going to offer satellite music to your cell phone.

Using a .COM domain?

>> Nothing is certain, but this is getting pretty big.

With who and in what ways?

>> 218,000 names bought so far in 104 countries??? Sure many be only parked, but many are not.

How many of those are held by developers, and how many by speculators? How does the 218k stat compare to landrushes of other TLDs (.US, .EU, .IN, .CN)?

>> Don't rebuttal and say, "It will segregate the internet." - Irrelevant

Ok. That's a silly argument anyway.

>> Don't say, "People will get confused typing in URL's.'

It's true, "people" are easy confused. But I'll let someone else say that.

>> Don't say "Companies have to create a second site."

Won't they though? What is the advantage for a company to create a .MOBI site rather then making their existing .COM detect and support mobile devices?

>> These statements will never keep Mobi from growing. People say these over and over and over and it's not working. Mobi-is-here-to-stay.

Let's hope so!

Just playing devil's advocate here in a way. I'm in "wait and see" mode.

RJ

 

[whitebark]

Well said RJ - I could not agree more. I hope the .mobi fans make their money, but I will not touch them.

I would like to know how many actual website developers who are also domainers are buying .mobi? I suspect that number is VERY low. They, like me know one simple fact - you don't need a .mobi to have mobile content. It really is that simple.

 

[FathomJH]

ahha, but the keys, and I doubt many know:

Many wireless companies are entertaining the idea to only offer internet browsers that accept .mobis, no .coms.

 

[RJ]

ahha, but the keys, and I doubt many know:

Many wireless companies are entertaining the idea to only offer internet browsers that accept .mobis, no .coms.

They would block access to .COM's? I don't think so.

Well said RJ - I could not agree more. I hope the .mobi fans make their money, but I will not touch them.

I'm not going that far to say I wouldn't touch them (or advise others not to). I'm just being cautiously optimistic and not ready to drop a large investment yet on an unproven TLD.

The title of this thread caught my eye, because I do consider myself skeptical, but not anti-MOBI by any means. I actually will be looking at purchasing some nice .MOBI's on the aftermarket if momentum continues for this TLD.

RJ

 

[Genialnames]

I agree with RJ
A simple question: in wich position in the market would you put an.mobi domain , compared with .com?

One further consideration: those specific extensions such as .mobi , (or avio,etc) should be used just for their means, that would restrict very much their applicability and their usability, and that would give to them an higher value, but most of them, probably, should be used by part of companies who already operate in that specific field , that would greatly restrict the market, but also that would really greatly increase the risk to to incour in Tm issues, cybersquatting and so on.


Of course
I hope you can make some money , but personally I won't think at the.moby like a real expanding market, to invest in.
IMHO

 

[FathomJH]

we'll see in a year

 

[Lasher]

I believe in the idea of .MOBI, but the kind of crap some people are registering and posting here every day is a waste of regfee, imho. Of course, I'd love to be proved wrong, it will just make my LLL.mobi domains that much more valuable.

 

[thebiffenator]

For all belivers and non belivers

Go to a regular .com site on your cellphone/blackberry/smartphone ect...

(keep in mind I think even the bigest .mobi head honchos havent fully developed their sites yet because the maybe the new generation of phones havent arrived yet from Nokia-t-mobil-vodofone ect...)


What do you see now with on your existing phone or PDA? Do you see everything you would see in the dot.com version (with out the /'s or.'s))or is it slow and frustrating. OR does your favorite site not support mobile technology. Anyway I kind of think thier was a point to the trademark periord for .mobi.....?...??...?..? Sign of the new e-times maybe???

I think that .mobi will never touch the ".com's" ....BUT...for the mobile user it may offer a very reliable source of information to the business world for the technology we have today...And the business world all travel.... just wait about 6 months down the road when the next generation of cellphones/blackberies come out....Do you think they will have a .mobi link already embeded in it or keyword.?..?...Who knows yet, except for the Tech leaders of the world....but I would put my money on the tech-leaders of the world and since they are backing this.......


If you can't beat em, join em
:sold:

Biff

 

[luxinterior]

Like RJ I have to admit to being 'cautiously optimistic', maybe it's an age thing

I've seen way too many 'next big things' over the years and the fact is that unless they are picked up by 'joe blow in the street' (the average punter) they will surely wither and die on the vine. How many 'big players' are 'jumping' on the bandwagon is really besides the point. Maybe we should start a thread listing 'the next big thing' for the benefit of our younger members.

I'll make a start...

Numerous TLD's - EU, US, NAME, EU, BE etc etc
Betamax (for you old guys!)
Laser Disc
WAP - this one was, and still is hilarious and that's why MOBI really doesn't do it for me. - I remember all the fuss and commotion when it first came on the scene years ago and my immediate thought was 'but it looks crap and I can't see it!'. Lo and behold it never did take off the way 'the big boys' claimed it would.

I worked for Polygram years ago when they where trying to push laser discs and another rival product that slips my mind. I recall sitting in lavish hotels listening to some goon tell us all how it was going to 'revolutionize the Industry'! What a joke!

I guess my point is that skepticism comes with age. Years of being promised everything but being delivered nothing kind of makes you get that way. But bringing this post back to it's original point. I hope for all the guys on NP that have invested some sizable, and not so sizable funds into MOBI it does do well but i for one won't be betting the farm on it. Healthy skepticism is a GOOD thing and will ensure you don't make too many screw ups along the way. Blind faith will steer you right off the end of a very large cliff! The good news is you wouldn't have seen it coming so it won't hurt as much.

I await to be proven wrong...lord knows I"d actually LOVE IT!!!!

Good luck!

Lux

 

[iNod]

Well said RJ - I could not agree more. I hope the .mobi fans make their money, but I will not touch them.

I would like to know how many actual website developers who are also domainers are buying .mobi? I suspect that number is VERY low. They, like me know one simple fact - you don't need a .mobi to have mobile content. It really is that simple.

It is atleast 1

I find the fact that Mobile Phones get there own extension amazing. Like all others out there.. Sure .com is more nice, but the ability to type in company.mobi and have a just ONLY mobile website, is an excellent idea. However yes so far VERY little has come of much in the "advertising" of mobi field. However I still find myself buying a few (not 10,000) odd good keyword mobi's. Even if they don't go big, I can still use them and easily make back my $17 on each one.

If you are bashing the mobi's (I have seen a few people bash mobi on other forums) than that is defiently wrong. COM's are mainly all bought up. So any new company is out of luck unless you want to pay XX,XXX for your company name because a huge number of random people just go and buy up every single combo you know. So people are starting to resort to .net/.info/.org/etc.. So why not add a list for mobile only websites? It does the job and works fine. If you don't wish to spend $17 on a new domains (thats like $9 a year) than be it. Don't go bashing around, or saying they will die without providing sufficent evidence. Sure alot of extensions have came and died. And alot have picked up (.info/.us/etc) I also know alot of people who thought info was going to do horrible. Not look at it. Some even consider infos better than org or net..

- Steve

 

[DN Tycoon]

I can't say much in the way for .mobi as nobody knows the fate of this mobile extension. What I do know as fact is that the mobile phone is quickly becoming the most used device on the planet, the technology grows daily and continues to broaden the media market the only next logical step would be to setup some exclusive mobile internet aka .mobi for the people to access using their cell phones. I think the reason so many big name companies have backed this extension is because they have seen the future and it involves the internet and the hundreds of ways people can connect to it when they want to get the info/stuff they want. Down the road we will see everybody accessing full blown internet access in the vehicles much like GPS is now only we will have a all out car entertainment system.....even though .mobi is now for cellphones as we see it but the extension will also be used for the car entertainment system I mentioned as well as pda and other small mobile devices created down the road.

Right now common sense tells us that the .mobi domains should be short to cut down on key count. In the future and in some respect now this will not be a concern as technology will allow people to speak into their devices or simply type in the domain name once and it will remember so you will only have to type in the first few letter and the device will guess the rest much like a spell checker. This is of course is only the surface as alot of devices will have keyboards of some type. In order to understand the .mobi extension you really have to look toward the future, as new mobile technology emerges the value of these names will rise.

The majority of names I have with the .mobi extension are nothing more than investments tucked away for the future. Investing in anything is always shaky but I myself would rather spend some now then lose out later...(just be wise in your spending)

 

[camille7_7]

I buy domain names hoping someday someone will buy them.....I have bought .com .net .org .ws and .name......and have sold one after a year.

This was my first chance to be involved at the beginning of a dot whatever....I bought just a few .mobi that i liked and passed on a few that were good .mobi...(the point here is I still don't know what I am doing)

The one thing I have learned from all my reading here and non-posting is that the only legitimate argument that will make .mobi's rise or fall will be if the domain names are developed .mobi has much to compete with, the capability for a .tld to switch from pc to mobile view.

People with money to invest will take a chance and buy up what they can hoping for a high ROI because they have the money to wager....but people that buy a few, the little players that want .mobi to rise to the top must be proactive and develop and get the word out. Domain extensions cannot reach the public if they are not slammed in the publics face.

I cannot build websites but I try....and I am trying even harder with my .mobi...there is no use to park if people think my whatever.mobi is a scam for a lottery in another country. The extension can only succeed if people like us make it a house hold reference. If enough of us do not wait for a large corporation to promote one or two .mobi’s and we promote all that we have, it “might” be great. Largecorporation.mobi might be great but thousands of .mobi’s everywhere will be even better teamed with Largecorporation.mobi.

This is why I do not post....I hope u all follow what I am trying to get across.

-Thank you for your time.
-Aaron

 

[paxton]

I've bought a few mobis and I'm excited by the big prices of reported sales. But I'm also skeptical of MOBI's future. Here's a snippet from a post I made the other day regarding numerical .mobi's:

"...My gut feeling is that telephone operators and mobile networks will not let any type-ins default to any extension (not dot COM, not dot MOBI, not dot anything). I can't imagine businesses would want to "lose" their surfers to outside competitors - such as 3rd party websites. I always think of the original AOL and their little internet system. When users would login to the AOL platform and type in Keywords, the results would always be directed to some AOL affiliate or AOL partner company. They never let their precious little surfers leave the proprietary network unless they explicitly opened a web browser and entered a complete URL including the extension.

So back to numerics. If a wireless subscriber opens their mobile browser and types in three or four or five digits and hits enter... what will happen? Are we to assume that the cell phone manufacturers/network operators will have configured their system so that the user is automatically taken to a website with a dot MOBI extension? or a dot COM?

When I open my phone browser today, I am taken to a mobile portal that my wireless provider makes as a Home page or starting point. To get to an application that lets me enter a direct URL I have to navigate through a couple of pages including a sneaky little window that has the option to "Enter URL..." - an option that is on page 2 of the sneaky little menu. In other words, they don't make it simple for the common user to just open the mobile phone web browser and type in address to navigate to. And when I do enter a domain without an extension, the result is an HTTP 400 error.

In my opinion, for ... mobis to be a success ... the dot MOBI extension has to be universally accepted as the de facto standard for mobile browsing. I doubt users are going to manually punch in full dot mobi URLs that include the .mobi extension on their mobile phones (for the obvious reasons). And based upon what I typed earlier, I'm not sold that that businesses are just going to all agree to let mobile users reach 3rd party websites/applications as the default method of operation when a user types in a bunch of keys at a menu or portal page..."

If the wireless businesses running the show (manufacturers,network operators, mobile technology standards organizations, etc.) do not have a monoploy on .MOBI domains and businesses based off of dot mobi website addresses, what is their incentive to drive their users to .MOBI locations and away from their own profit center addresses and locations?

 

[thebiffenator]

Dunce <--thats me

Anway real quick before I got to bed and let some other rich guy benifit off of my graphic services (my boss) I have to work at 7 am and work until 7pm.....and then agian work on saturday at the same time " way underpaid."

.........I must say this though, after reading this thread and posting for my first time tonight, I bought dunce.mobi "45 min ago" (only becuase Iit was avialble and I love comedy.) I own some .com comedy sites I hope to redevelop/develop soon...my newest baby is "poopmonkey.com" its in the works now.....

Anyway we could all be dunces for buying .mobi's or the other people could be dunces for laughing at us buying .mobi's. The only judge will be
(Father Time) and we all know what time can do to us for good and the bad

I probably won't respond to this thread until saturday, hopefully I can check it from work tommorrow.

P.S "hyphen.mobi" is not taken yet, someone PLZ take it before I pay another $30 to godaddy and if not I won't be able to drink tommorrow night!

Peace Out
-Biff

 

[DomainBuyerBroker]

What if .com is the horse and buggy and .mobi is the "horseless carriage"?

All you .mobi haters are just like automobile haters back in the early 1900s. The horse and buggy industry had A LOT to loose so there were LOTS of naysayers against the automobile. Granted in may have taken until the 1920s when Henry Ford started the assembly line but just look at how automobiles have changed the world.

Hey, RJ,

Can we save this thread for the archives so all the .mobi haters can look back and say, "Gee, I guess I should have bought at least SOME .mobi domains"?

I find it so strange that a forum and industry filled with such forward thinkers can be so negative on the natural evolution of the internet.

 

[Phronesis]

Many wireless companies are entertaining the idea to only offer internet browsers that accept .mobis, no .coms.

People keep saying this but no one has backed it up with anything. Do you have proof that this is true (article, etc)? Otherwise it seems like a domainers urban legend.

 

[satsdifference.com]

Remember we're domainers

Sure genericXY.com is better than genericXY.mobi

But the problem is genericXY.com isnt even close to being available today!

However, many genericXY.mobi has been available in the .mobi era.

I see this as an opportunity to register not act like a judge to the world.

I am a domainer, I look to register great AVAILABLE names.

This is the best registering opportunity I've seen since I started domaining in January 1999; Of course, one must draft wisely!

(I'm not talking about aftermarket acquiring though, just talking about the living dream of paying 8.99 a year / for two years at website.in for something that could lead to my goal of breaking the rat race job in the future and live the online lifestyle

I am a domainer, this is what I have hoped for - great availble words in a promising mobile extension. I don't get paid to work as a domain name policy judge. Hehe Let's all just enjoy this, we are domainers and .mobi is now part of our backyard territory. 8.99!

Regards,

 

[dag]

Many wireless companies are entertaining the idea to only offer internet browsers that accept .mobis, no .coms.

People keep saying this but no one has backed it up with anything. Do you have proof that this is true (article, etc)? Otherwise it seems like a domainers urban legend.

I think it's likely that they would DEFAULT to .mobi, but of course they would "accept" .com...

 

[thebiffenator]

Roger That