http://www.techweb.com/wire/mobile/193005783

Rush Is On For 'Dot-Mobi' Domains


By W. David Gardner, TechWeb Technology News

Registrations began Tuesday for .mobi top level domain names for mobile wireless devices and cell phones.

The names are available on a first-come first serve basis, though many common domain names have already been awarded to wireless companies and trademarked names. They had first dibs on suffixes for web pages formatted for cell phones and other wireless devices.

The .mobi domain is managed by Mobile Top Level Domain, an entity created by Google, Microsoft, Nokia and Vodafone Group. Before the bidding got underway Tuesday, the company had said interest in the domain names wasn't strong. The company said it had received responses for just 13,000 registrations.

Registrar EnCirca expressed confidence that registrations would eventually take off, observing there are four times as many cell phone users as Internet users. "This means that the wireless Internet has the potential of being much larger than the current PC-based Internet," EnCirca said. "But few web pages are designed to be accessed via mobile devices."

Tom Barrett, EnCirca president, said owners of registered trademarks appear to have signed up in impressive numbers to secure their names in the new domain.

I registered our main domains - mainly so nobody else could buy them. Anyone else?

Laura

bfft they arent worth much .mobi is another novelty extension

Is godaddy offering these?

I think these could be useful for mobile device only websites Just like in most people's minds .com is the official PC website address.... many people might start thinking that .mobi is the official mobile device address.

I have little doubt that in 2 years max cellphone / mobile internet access will be extremely common.

Originally Posted by garg

Just like in most people's minds .com is the official PC website address.... many people might start thinking that .mobi is the official mobile device address.

I have little doubt that in 2 years max cellphone / mobile internet access will be extremely common.

Well that's the whole point! These ARE the official mobile addresses. The idea is that if someone is surfing on their phone, they can go to www.earnersforum.mobi to get the mobile version - likewise for any other site if you just add the mobi extension.

And yes, I do think that surfing on your phone will be totally normal soon enough (now it's a PITA).

And yes again - GoDaddy is registering during the landrush: http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/tlds/m...isc=goomobi01a

HTH!

Laura

Originally Posted by Worldwebuser

bfft they arent worth much .mobi is another novelty extension

No, not for speculators for sure, but I don't think anyone thinks they would be. If .mobi becomes standard among phone surfers, and you don't own your .mobi addresses, you will be bummed you didn't get them early on. That's not to say you should go buy, but it's a small investment in case mobis succeed like the creators hope they do.

Laura

When Verizon (a mobile company) says they only bought verizon.mobi to keep someone else from doing it, I put my wallet back in my pocket.

this is a good threory having yoursite.mobi for cell browsers, but my guess....and i know cellphones.....is that in a year or 2 tops all cell phone will have full web browsers (most do now) .....so you wont need a wap site to accomodate anyone.

my .02

It's a con. The playing ground is FAR from level anymore.

All the big name domainers and insiders already got first dibs and picked off the best names before you even knew .mobi existed.

They claim they reserved names for trademark holders etc yet most insiders know all the one and 2 character .mobi were taken a long time go.

Unless you're one fo those people that are so paranoid you own .com .net. .info. .org .web .us and all the country extensions for your domain this is pointless.

It'll die just like .web and .us did.

No one is gonna spend millions of dollars to nationally advertise their .mobi address. Which is what it would take to put .mobi on the map as a respected domain. Any company established enough to do so already has a .com to advertise.

They're just buying .mobi for the same reason all the other suckers are.... and at $79 a pop I might add.

agree completely