650 .mobi City Names Up for Grabs……..

Some visitors to our web-site may have noticed that we are announcing the release of approximately 650 city names to local Governments and/or their designees as of 20th August onwards.These names have been held back from general registration until now to ensure that it is the cities themselves that have the opportunity to develop mobile sites that best address the needs of their visitors and residents.

Helsinki.mobi  was an initial trial exercise that we carried out to determine how we might work with a city authority in developing a .mobi web-site filled with local information for people on the move. The site launched in May and has proven to be a great success both in terms of traffic and in driving recognition to the city and we have now decided to move forward with a larger release of names.

So, what are the benefits of a cityname.mobi web-site? Firstly, residents can have constant access to local news and information affecting their community while tourism and hospitality organizations have the perfect medium to promote the city to on-the-go visitors. Local advertisers and content providers have an entrance to the world's fastest growing marketing channel and additionally, city authorities are presented with an opportunity to generate incremental revenue from advertisers and content poviders.

How many of us have wished that we could quickly access traffic information, train / bus timetables seek out the tourist office, the best shopping area or closest restaurants all without having to hunt out an internet cafe? And all without having to trawl through realms of irrelevant information.....

Interested parties can view all the process details  on our web-site, including eligibility, compliance and marketing requirements. We ask for a short summary of the content and services to be offered and we will be evaluating all proposals. City names will be offered to those entities that best meet our objectives and an initial two year contract will seal the deal.

 

Comments

[Michele Neylon]

Caroline

Will you be contacting the cities in question or will they be contacting you?

I can imagine that some of the larger and more tech-savvy local governments will be keeping an eye open for these kind of developments, but I imagine a lot of them wouldn't even be aware of .mobi (no offence!)

Michele

[SFWriter777]

How are you going to police what a buyer does with a domain name after the sale? In thoery, it may sound harmless, but it sets a terrible precedent. Way too Big Brother.

[Caroline Greer]

Hi Michele and thanks for your comments.

You are right of course - while it would be lovely to sit back and watch the applications roll in, it would be rather naive of us to expect that to happen without some publicity / education push our end.

We kick-started this project by talking to country Government officials at the ICANN meeting in Puerto Rico last week and we will be engaging in marketing activities over the summer to Chambers of Commerce and Tourism Boards across the globe. Our investor network will also be helping with outreach to their respective countries / officials.

Undoubtedly some entities will be slower than others to take up the baton - hence the lack of a closing date for this process.

Caroline.

[Caroline Greer]

As regards the 'Big Brother' comment....

It is fairly easy for us to monitor the level of content on our domains. Technology is a beautiful thing ;-).

We are all about content and usage this year and this project has been developed with that in mind. Of course, we and others have plenty of tools to offer applicants and help is always on hand.

It really a win-win situation for all parties involved if we succeed in getting relevant content on these domains.
And I don't think genuine applicants need fear anything!

Caroline.

[Paul G]

In reviewing the application info it says, "[Please note that mTLD will provide marketing support]."

Could you elaborate on this marketing support and what it will include?

Thanks so much!

[Caroline Greer]

Hi Paul,

The marketing support will be discussed with the successful applicant.

You will note from the application form that the city entities have to commit to some form of marketing of the cityname.mobi site and different applicants may have different ideas as to what would work best for their locale. The idea is that help is on hand from dotMobi, be that in the form of presence at a specific event, help with collateral or an ad campaign etc etc.

Hope this helps.

Caroline.

[Michele]

Caroline

If you need contacts in Dublin city council let me know (you should have my work email address!)

Michele

[JP]

Could you please give an example of a 'designee of local government' as stated in the application process.
Thanks

[Caroline Greer]

Dear JP,

We recognise that different countries have different administrative structures and so the city names process has been created with that in mind.

For example, a Government Department or the Lord Mayor's Office may choose to run the project or a city authority may choose to delegate the task to its Chamber of Commerce, its Tourist Board or Local Council. In the case of Helsinki.mobi, the Lord Mayor's office handed over responsibility to a company that oversees marketing programmes for the city of Helsinki.

In all cases, the applicant must submit evidence that they are authorised to apply for the city name.

Caroline.

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