On the other hand, with 3.3 billion cell phone subscribers in the world, musicians and artist making a huge pay day out of royalties from download ringtones, I can see someone like Apple for iTunes, or Sony, BMI, Google, or Amazon going for it. 600K is huge to some ordinary folks but to these giants, an ROI of a year or so is not far fetched. Music is the number one downloaded item...globally.
And speaking of globally, the concept of 5 years to register in the public mind is also a stretch...to the extreme. This domain has become so entrenched in some nations. It is just taking forever to gain mainstream acceptance here in the states. But it is coming. And rapidly.
The proof will be in the end user and how it is deployed. Then we'll have a better idea of what is to be.
Doc, to me, those 3.3 billion cell phones don't really mean much - how many of those cell phone users actually access the internet on their phones?
I think this is one point that everyone is missing here. The infrastructure is still way behind for mobile internet (and .mobi) to be mainstream. These sales are about 5 years too early.
A huge proportion of those 3.3 cell phones are in the developing world. And trust me - I come from India - in such countries, mobile internet is almost unheard of. Its expensive, and its not available.
Heck, even in the US, mobile internet is a huge pain. How many of the .mobi lovers can (and do) access the internet on their cell phones as much as they do on their computers? How many of these posts were written on cell phones?
So its not really 3.3 billion cell phones. Its only a very very small fraction that can and does actually use the mobile internet. The rest will still take years to take to it.
I'm not saying that the sales aren't legitimate. They very well might be. All I'm saying is that the sales have been way too inflated for a very new extension. Even the most ardent of .mobi lovers won't deny that the extension needs at least 5 more years to mature (as the infrastructure matures).
Time will tell about .mobi. To me, its just happening way too fast, way too soon, and way too easily.
http://alvaroalbarracin.blogspot.com/2007/12/i-am-acquiring-very-best-mobi-names.html
I am not planning on developing these names, I am planing on selling these sometime in the near future, because I am focusing in Clics.com.. 
I am already getting emails with offers, for the group and as single. ))
Thank you for your comments !!!
Alvaro:shy:
So the buyer was essentially someone not really acquainted with the domain industry, but one in the mobile business, and believed much of the hype about .mobi.
Great. I was a skeptic, but now I'm confirmed that the mTLD hype has worked if buyers like that could be lured.
"I plan on selling the name"
Classic example of someone who doesn't know the domain industry jumping in with a load of cash and not really knowing what to do.
If he really believes he can flip a 611k Music.mobi for a profit anytime soon, then he's really really dreaming. I would much rather buy Invest.com.
Heck, if the owner of Invest.com hasn't been able to sell it for 600k+, if this guy thinks he can sell Music.mobi for more, then man..
The only major domainer who is publicly known to have bought high value .mobi names is Rick Schwartz. And we all know the debacle with the Flowers.mobi
mTLD seems to have done its homework right. Someone bought the hype.
Sheesh man...
mg_smile:
op2:
