dotMobi

Still More Premium Names ...

Just as the curtain closes on the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. EAST / Moniker auction, the second of our three online auctions with Sedo comes into view! Sedo Auction II opens on 31 October and runs for seven days. We are certainly hoping that we can replicate the success that we had with the first one. The key vertical markets this time round are travel and dating. With some great names going under the hammer and the same content requirements in place as before, we should see some interesting .mobi sites popping up over the next few months.

If you want to get involved, further details on how to participate can be found on Sedo's site or on our dedicated auction page.

And just to keep things interesting ...

Success at T.R.A.F.F.I.C!

For anyone wondering how we fared at the live Traffic/Moniker auction in Miami last Friday - we did great! We sold all of our 10 names and made a total of $596,000 - not bad for an afternoon's work! The results are as below:

poker.mobi - $150,000
ringtones.mobi - $145,000
news.mobi - $110,000
shopping.mobi - $55,000
email.mobi - $50,000
buy.mobi - $32,500
podcast.mobi - $25,000
cash.mobi - $12,500
pda.mobi - $8,000
zipcodes.mobi - $8,000

This revenue will be ploughed back into dotMobi (sadly, it did not fund my weekend in South Beach!) and will be put to good use as we work towards some new product launches scheduled for the end of the year. We will also be monitoring the development of these domains and look forward to seeing some exciting new content.

The T.R.A.F.F.I.C conference itself was a good opportunity to hear from some folks that have invested a lot in .mobi, some of whom are now developing their domains to realise their potential even further. During the lunch session right before the auction, my colleague Pinky Brand spoke about issues such as the introduction of the i-phone and dotMobi's thoughts on the matter (previously addressed by James Pearce on this blog), the future of mobile and some of our projects such as the City Names programme which offers enterprising developers an opportunity to partner with local governments in the roll out of city domains (this last idea struck a chord with quite a few people).

We are now awaiting the results of the remaining 35 names which are being sold via the silent auction currently ongoing and closing on Thursday.

Next stop - Sedo auction on 31st October!

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. EAST 2007

Continuing the news on our distribution of Premium Names ...

Pinky Brand, dotMobi's Director of New Markets, will speak at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. EAST 2007 on Friday, 12 October, during a luncheon that Ron Jackson of DNJournal is keynoting.

At the live auction which follows the luncheon, ten dotMobi names will be available:

• buy.mobi
• cash.mobi
• email.mobi
• news.mobi
• pda.mobi
• podcast.mobi
• poker.mobi
• ringtones.mobi
• shopping.mobi
• zipcodes.mobi

If you can't attend the auction in person but still want to bid, you can request special "Proxy" access. There will also be thirty-five additional names available via silent auction.

Like our online auctions, there are content requirements for winning bidders to ensure that relevant content continues to be added to the millions of existing pages of content behind the .mobi domain.

For those entering the auction, good bidding!

dotMobi: "Visionary" Nominee

Here's a nice bit of news: dotMobi has been nominated for a 2007 "Mobile Internet Net Visionary" Award by the Irish Internet Association (IIA) and Enterprise Ireland.

For background, the IIA is the professional body for those conducting business via the internet from Ireland. Established in 1997, the IIA has a 400-plus membership (and that should give you some sense of the high growth of the technology community in Ireland).

Enterprise Ireland is the Irish state development agency focused on accelerating the development of Irish companies to achieve strong positions in global markets.

Do you want to vote?

If you're interested in voting, you simply need to visit the online voting ballot at http://www.netvisionary.ie/vote2007.html.

Voting closes on 19 October.

And good luck to our fellow nominees in the "Mobile Internet Net Visionary" category: RTÉ Publishing, Learnosity, ParkByPhone.ie, WildLight Film Channel and Phonovation.

Auction Fever

It is auction fever over at dotMobi right now and in between all the ongoing marketing activity and behind-the-scenes work, we are keenly watching the bidding as the clock counts down on the first Sedo auction of 100 .mobi premium names. The pyschology around auctions is fascinating and no doubt as we get ever closer to 12pm EST on Wednesday 3rd, some of the bidding strategies will really come into play. If you want to be in with a chance at buying one of these great names, head on over to the auction platform and be sure to place your bid!

Stay tuned for news about the next set of Sedo auction names which we will be announcing very shortly and don't forget the Traffic auction next week in Miami when we release another 45 of our premium names!