.mobi Why Mobi didn't have a chance...

[freeflow]

......in the past, but might in the future.

First there was a native app boom now it is time for web apps and last but not least the time will come for mobile websites. Your average business and developer doesn’t need any kind of app to have a mobile presence. When this time comes people will realize that there are many great .mobi names to register or to buy for a fraction of the price of other tlds. The best part is that .mobi is the only tld that says “I am mobile”. We all know that technically the tld doesn’t matter, but from a marketing perspective I think .mobi has a big advantage and I just can’t stop saying it, but .mobi just looks cooler than all the other strange possibilities like m + dot, wap + whatever, slash + something awkward etc. I know it has been a long and hard road for .mobi domainers, but I still believe .mobi will have its chance in the future...

Read this and keep dotmobi in mind:
When Responsive Web Design Is Bad For SEO

In my January column I resolved not to discuss the responsive Web design issue anymore, as the One URL versus multiple URL issue is moot now that Google has announced a way to consolidate link equity for equivalent mobile URLs. Unfortunately, the rest of the SEO community isn’t following suit, as responsive Web design still seems to have the undeserved reputation for being the best option for SEO.

http://searchengineland.com/when-responsive-web-design-is-bad-for-seo-149109

 

[Keith]

The only tld to say mobile until .mobile...

Bottom line is .mobi went down in flames. Ashes are all that remain :wave:

 

[mjnels]

......in the past, but might in the future.

First there was a native app boom now it is time for web apps and last but not least the time will come for mobile websites. Your average business and developer doesn’t need any kind of app to have a mobile presence. When this time comes people will realize that there are many great .mobi names to register or to buy for a fraction of the price of other tlds. The best part is that .mobi is the only tld that says “I am mobile”. We all know that technically the tld doesn’t matter, but from a marketing perspective I think .mobi has a big advantage and I just can’t stop saying it, but .mobi just looks cooler than all the other strange possibilities like m + dot, wap + whatever, slash + something awkward etc. I know it has been a long and hard road for .mobi domainers, but I still believe .mobi will have its chance in the future...

Read this and keep dotmobi in mind:
When Responsive Web Design Is Bad For SEO

http://searchengineland.com/when-responsive-web-design-is-bad-for-seo-149109

i agree with you and this was my mindset in 2006 anyway... however, with a bajillian TLD's coming if people eventually consider it a viable alternative - it will just be one of many hundreds of choices. that spreads the "values" a bit thin for a domainer..

The only tld to say mobile until .mobile...

:lol:

i keep checking their website for them to delete this: "the only ICANN approved mobile specific domain"

 

[freeflow]

i keep checking their website for them to delete this: "the only ICANN approved mobile specific domain"

I think it should read:
"the only ICANN approved domain that sounds like it has something do do with mobile"


Hi mjnels! It's good to see that you are still here.

 

[mjnels]

I think it should read:
"the only ICANN approved domain that sounds like it has something do do with mobile"


Hi mjnels! It's good to see that you are still here.

until .mobile is released :o

im still around but most my .mobi domains are not... sure feels like 2006 here though with 3 .mobi threads at the top of the forum

 

[Keith]

im still around but most my .mobi domains are not

Mine either but I still hold a few. Planning on riding them straight to the ground...

 

[mjnels]

i always thought the idea of holding like 1,000+ .mobi was unsustainable anyway - even when they were selling (to domainers)

only registered like 60 in landrush.. 60x$60=$3,600.. the idea was to "trade up" until i had around that amount all for free at least.. then got a bit caught up.. the rest seems unbelievable looking back

 

[Keith]

the rest seems unbelievable looking back

And amazingly some are looking forward, much to the registries delight I suppose!

At one point I had about 500 .mobi and now it's about 15. Just waiting for drop dates to hit before it gets cut in half. Lesson learned and moving on...

 

[Kate]

There is nothing special with .mobi, it failed along other TLDs for one simple reason: there is no need for another TLD, and also we don't need more fragmentation of the WWW.

Since .mobi was buried (that is roughly 5 years ago), mobile Internet has soared, the tablets in particular are very popular today.
But all those technology advances have done nothing to bring some relevance back to .mobi.

In fact, the distinction between desktop and mobile has blurred further.
The concept was inherently flawed.

 

[Keith]

There is nothing special with .mobi, it failed along other TLDs for one simple reason: there is no need for another TLD, and also we don't need more fragmentation of the WWW.

Since .mobi was buried (that is roughly 5 years ago), mobile Internet has soared, the tablets in particular are very popular today.
But all those technology advances have done nothing to bring some relevance back to .mobi.

In fact, the distinction between desktop and mobile has blurred further.
The concept was inherently flawed.

I agree that it's blurred. I use iPhone 95 percent of the time for Internet surfing. The majority of sites are on point. In fact, it's rare to find one that doesn't render well.

 

[mjnels]

There is nothing special with .mobi, it failed along other TLDs for one simple reason: there is no need for another TLD, and also we don't need more fragmentation of the WWW.

Since .mobi was buried (that is roughly 5 years ago), mobile Internet has soared, the tablets in particular are very popular today.
But all those technology advances have done nothing to bring some relevance back to .mobi.

In fact, the distinction between desktop and mobile has blurred further.
The concept was inherently flawed.

actually the special thing with .mobi is we've never seen an alt TLD bubble quite like that. nobody expected that..the angle the registry was trying to sell was nonsense, they were just domain names.. not part of any standard. when you look at it like this it doesn't fragment the web anymore than .info fragments the web. they weren't going to succeed becoming a "mobile standard"

BUT - nearly everyone on the forums were saying the reason .mobi would fail is because "people dont use the internet on their phones for everything." that statement was so hilariously foolish and nearly everybody was saying it. "oh maybe things like sports and news but whos going to use the internet on a cell phone" :lol:

 

[Kate]

Well the cell phones aren't phones anymore But you can still use them to call though - it has become some sort of extra feature
The primitive cellphones weren't good for anything Internet. But today's smartphones can accommodate standard websites, thus making .mobi irrelevant. Technology advances have nullified the justification for crippled down websites.

 

[mjnels]

Well the cell phones aren't phones anymore But you can still use them to call though - it has become some sort of extra feature
The primitive cellphones weren't good for anything Internet. But today's smartphones can accommodate standard websites, thus making .mobi irrelevant. Technology advances have nullified the justification for crippled down websites.

thats what im saying. nearly everyone at DNF had the opinion that internet on mobile devices will never be that big of thing except for certain things like news/sports.

im out of touch with technology these days but people were acting like technology was going to stay in the same place as it was in 2006 then somehow associating .mobi with their argument even though the two were separate things that had nothing to do with each other..

 

[JB Lions]

"but might in the future." Let it go. It's like you're sliding down the cliff and there are people throwing you rope, some other things like branches you can grab a hold of and you're like, I want to taste the bottom. Does splat, really sound like splat. The reasons you gave in the other thread don't holp up, this one doesn't either.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG3m9FIAs54"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG3m9FIAs54[/ame]

Plus, that article is a ridiculous one. His nonsense gets taken apart in the comment section. I use responsive themes, 0 issues. Not sure what he's talking about with load times. I just did a search on one of my sites in Google on my Iphone. Clicked it, it loaded before I finished saying one thousand one. Looks great on both desktop and mobile and loads fast.

 

[dompro]

I have only one answer to this subject:

The mighty Google decided so, everyone else obeyed.

There is no SEO benefit of running mobile version of the site on mobi domain vs the main .com. so why bother

 

[RaiderGirl]

"Why mobi didn't have a chance..."

If technology was frozen in time after Mobi was introduced up to now, and we were still looking at 1 1/2" x 1 3/4" phone screens, maybe the TLD coupled with a great marketing campaign would of had a chance, but even that's a big IF.

BUT - nearly everyone on the forums were saying the reason .mobi would fail is because "people dont use the internet on their phones for everything." that statement was so hilariously foolish and nearly everybody was saying it. "oh maybe things like sports and news but whos going to use the internet on a cell phone" :lol:

"everyone" was posting that? Some may have said that, but it was certainly not the primary reason domainers said it would fail... The majority of domainers including myself who predicted the demise did so based on Mobi's uselessness, that it was a unnecessary TLD, Screen sizes on phones were increasing, the Iphone was introduced and then came auto detection, Mobility got pounded by newer technology, A lot of us non investors saw the writing on the wall while foolish investors like Gerry refused too, He was invested so heavily in it, that he refused to listen to any reason, Mobi was a sinking ship and he went down with it.

Looking back, I'm actually surprised Mobi got as much as mileage as it did, I attribute that to the number of corporate brands who used it, it put Mobi on life support just long enough for resellers to unload as many they could before the bottom fell out...

The market consisted primarily of domainers buying and selling from one another, no fresh end user money coming in, which means the late comers were going to get screwed the most, or rather screwed themselves, depending on how you look at it.
.

 

[mjnels]

"everyone" was posting that? Some may have said that, but it was certainly not the primary reason domainers said it would fail...

ok, not everyone.

what im saying is the discussion became more about the mobile internet not being that big of deal. this was before the iphone.. anyone reading those threads now would laugh..

the "success" probably had little to do with the sponsors names attached to it because there wasnt very much talk about .mobi at all until the magical Flowers.mobi sale.. and few others sold for obscene amounts. thats when the discussion really blew up.

 

[Sam]

Never had a chance. Never will.

 

[carob]

The level of .mobi registrations has been holding at about 1m for several years now according to hosterstats.com. I don't find many of those domains in use but maybe they are used in developing countries where non-smartphones are widely used for internet use.

At this point I doubt the domains are held by domainers since they have no real-world resale value.

 

[Kate]

There must be a lot of defensive registrations. Surprisingly it's still growing but there is hardly any TLD that isn't at least experiencing natural growth. .tel may be the only one. .name also lost a lot of volume.

I think many domainers are still owning .mobi domains along .pro .biz .xxx .whatever etc, TLDs that everybody should know are doomed imho.

 

[mjnels]

doomed compared to what?

the hundreds/thousands of new TLDs coming soon will be playing catchup with existing TLDs.

 

[Jasonn]

mobi was the best pump and dump tld yet and we all have rick to thank for that.(mostly) i feel for all the people who spent 40k or more on a single mobi domain...there were a number of them. i myself spent close to 10k that i'll never get back. if only i would of instantly sold during the hype...

 

[biggie]

this was before the iphone..

:talk:


and that....before the iphone is what was feuling the speculative registrations


but after that picture of the iphone came out and showed the phone's browser with a .com url in it....that screwed .mobi forever.

 

[mjnels]

:talk:


and that....before the iphone is what was feuling the speculative registrations


but after that picture of the iphone came out and showed the phone's browser with a .com url in it....that screwed .mobi forever.

not really dude... its just a TLD. it always was and never was anything more.

all this hype is what the registry was selling. i agree it was fueling speculative registrations but not mine.. some people thought technology would stay in the same place.

just like some people think thousands of TLD's will "only make .com stronger" :lol:

makes zero sense.

---------- Post added at 03:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:02 PM ----------

mobi was the best pump and dump tld yet and we all have rick to thank for that.(mostly) i feel for all the people who spent 40k or more on a single mobi domain...there were a number of them. i myself spent close to 10k that i'll never get back. if only i would of instantly sold during the hype...

yeah i dont know about it "being ricks fault"

i played the game too but there was no need to "pump"... people were buying LLL when you TOLD them thousands were dropping and it was a bad idea and the price continued to fall.

go back and read ALL the other hypsters talking nonsense about the hundreds of .mobi's they planned to "develop"

almost every .mobi person claimed development and that they were trying to better the TLD. if this wasnt pump and dump it sure was ignorance.. people at one point were talking about PRICE FIXING :lol:

yeah, lets all a bunch of strangers on the internet agree on a minimum price. im sure one guy wont be willing to sell $1 lower.

people have nobody to blame but themselves.

 

[DynamoMoe]

I no understand why people mention other peopels name in this post.

can not people take law action against people like this?