.mobi Breaks 500,000 Barrier
Launched just 8 months ago, .mobi domains have now crossed the 500,000 mark. This means millions of unique pages are now available optimized for mobile devices. Perhaps more important than this surge of content, however, is the surge of cash into the relatively young TLD.
As is the case in any form of investing, domainers like good odds. One way to evaluate the chances of a TLD taking off and thus increasing the equity of its domain names is to watch what the big money is doing. With investors such as VISA, Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, Vodafone, Sony and Telecom Italia, .mobi has attracted the support of investors with deep pockets and strong track records in backing the right horse.
That is not to say that everyone is in .mobi’s corner. Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera, is one detractor. Tetzchner is adamant that .mobi violates a cardinal tenet of the Internet, that of device independence:
What if you're using another device? Should we have .gameconsole? .car? .fridge? .plane? We don't need .mobi at all.
Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that he would like to promote usage of mobile browser application Opera Mini.
Still, .mobi has attracted some weighty supporters, and that is lending credibility to this young TLD. The .mobi TLD is particularly attractive to travel-related sites due to appeal of being able to reach out to travelers en route with content tailored to their mobile devices. SAS was the first airline to embrace .mobi (even though SAS.mobi now seems to redirect to MobilePortal.se). Amtrak and Hilton will follow with .mobi sites of their own in coming months. News, automotive and mobile phone companies are also hopping aboard the .mobi bandwagon.
One interesting thing about .mobi is that many of the most marketable domain names remain unavailable. This is because dotMobi, the .mobi registry, currently has them under wraps. DotMobi offered a Sunrise Period to trademark holders followed by a strategic “banking” of 5,700 generic domain names to be distributed via auctions on a quarterly basis through 2008. Through an auction held at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West 2007, 14 .mobi domains fetched a hefty $300,000.
.mobi is young, but it has some very smart and wealthy backers. It has also amassed a rather impressive list of advisors. Will .mobi worm its way into consumers’ consciousness? Only time will tell. One thing is certain, however, it won’t fail for lack of support from big business.
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