Hi,
My portfolio consists of 400+ domains and 50% of these are .mobi's. You could therefore argue that any stand I take on .mobi will be biased.
TLD's are like any other business, driven by demand and supply. There is obviously a demand for new TLD's, even if the only market they serve is for resellers-to-resellers. However, every once and a while one comes along with a bit more substance to it. I believe .mobi is one of these... and here's why:
1. .mobi is backed by organisations that can influence its success. A collection of handset manufacturers and providers that, it's safe to assume , have done more research than anyone on these boards as to the impact this particular initiative is going to have on them. Voice revenue will be superseded by data revenue in the coming years fundamentally changing aspects of all these businesses, they know this and that's why they're backing it.
2. In terms of the consumer, .mobi is about 'assurance'. Sure, technically there is no need for a new TLD but it's not about 'wap.this.com' or 'mob.that.com'. It's about telling the end-user that if they stick to .mobi sites when surfing on their phone that their experience will be assured by a strict set of guidelines. They won't be afforded this if every .com owner implements a different 'mobile-friendly' equivalent. The most important aspect of the guidelines, in my opinion, is download sizing. In comparison to PC-based internet access, mobile surfing costs a fortune at present. Even in 3-4 years time I can't imagine many students out there wanting to risk spending 10p or 20p more than they have to when surfing on their mobile phones. With effective consumer marketing of .mobi these points can be reinforced in the public consciousness.
3. In many ways it's now down to us. We probably have just as much of a say in how .mobi works out as the big boys. They continue to work on providing the infrastructure and the hardware and we're here to provide the unique services and the content.
I mentioned earlier that I own a 'healthy' (there is that bias again!) set of .mobiâs. In 2007 I will be singling out around 5-10% of these as development projects. Iâve considered important aspects of how I expect mobile-surfing to be used, at least in the early stages, and I will prioritize my efforts in accordance with those considerations.
I urge all those out there to do the same⦠I know Iâm starting to sound like Churchill but this is a war-cry of sorts. Donât be a âshoulda, woulda, couldaâ. Consider an investment, DYOR (hit a trader forum if youâve not seen that before), consider others opinions but frame them correctly. Thatâs why I told you where Iâm coming from in sentence 1, so I canât be accused of being some underhand .mobi evangelist. Iâm here to make some money doing what I love, just like the rest of youâ¦.
