dotMobi

Do you have the time for .mobi thinking?

I recently read a blog asking if a .mobi domain name is really needed and if we're somehow "splitting the internet." It got me thinking how deeply entrenched some are in ".com thinking" and how this just might be the perfect time to start using ".mobi thinking."

The basics of good marketing are no more sophisticated than recognizing your customers’ needs, delivering relevant goods and services, and using smart communications to build a relationship, thereby creating loyalty and repeat business.

So when BMW markets its cars to Irish drivers, it offers right-hand-drive vehicles, provides brochures in English in its Irish showrooms and delivers a portal at http://bmw.ie, providing localized car and dealer information. Likewise in Spain, the cars are left-hand-drive and their portal at http://bmw.es offers Spanish content. BMW recognizes the unique needs and languages in these individual markets and responds accordingly.

A good mobile web site similarly acknowledges the mobile population has a unique set of needs and -- in a sense -- speaks a different language. Mobile customers place higher value on convenience, speed and utility. A great mobile site targets those needs with agile content and uses a communications strategy that differentiates itself from its fixed-internet counterpart. This is the core of ".mobi thinking."

So while BMW markets its cars to its mobile customers, its mobile site at bmw.mobi offers quick links to view images of all its models, downloads for ringtones and wallpapers, and a contact number that’s linked so I can easily call it from my mobile phone since -- after all -- a phone can actually make calls.

Traffic West: A Buyers' Market

It was in the "wee small hours" this morning when news reached us of the results of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West auction in Las Vegas. Like many others, we were initially surprised. However, when we analysed the sales over our cups of coffee this morning, it became clear that within the context of the whole event, .mobi domains had in fact fared extremely well.

First off, we are delighted that all our .mobi names sold in the live auction, given that just over a third of the total names in that auction sold. Clearly people once again voted for mobility and the mobile web as being the future of computing and communications. There were 9 six-figure sales at the event - porn.mobi being one ($110,000) - but no seven-figure blockbuster sales this time round.

It's apparent that the market as a whole has gone a bit soft and jittery. The signs of sluggishness have been there for quite some time: the world is facing potential financial crisis and that is affecting all markets, not just the domain market. The subprime lending issues in the USA triggered a nervousness in the world's stock markets late last year and, clearly, investors react to marketplace conditions. Domains are subject to economic cycles, and for that reason, some of yesterday's prices were somewhat depressed (unlike the lucky winning bidders!).

The good news is that cycles are -- by their very nature -- cyclical, and prices will undoubtedly rise again. Premium names continue to be a big focus for us this year, so stay tuned for news on further allocation rounds.

Last week was a big week for the dotMobi team in terms of travel and events as we hit both the ICANN Meeting in New Delhi and the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The troops returning home from that latter event report a seemingly lower-than-usual turnout of participants. The show organizers claim the numbers were the same, so let's just say getting into restuarants this year was not the problem it was in 2007. Another sign of the current economic climate perhaps? That said, it was a fantastic event for dotMobi and we will be sharing our full report of the week very shortly.

What a Great Thing

We’ve always been big fans of zagat.mobi and now there’s a 30-second reason why we just love it.

Apple recently launched its "The Great Thing" TV commercial featuring some of the great things you can do with the Internet in your pocket. Featured along with viewing a trail map at a ski resort and changing your flight, is finding a good place to eat on Zagat.mobi.

The site looks really sharp within the iPhone and not to be ignored is the fact that the spot very clearly displays "zagat.mobi" in the address bar.

Take a look at the ad:

Like we said we months ago, we think the iPhone is simply awesome -- mostly because unlike anything else before, it has people talking about the mobile web. One year ago most people wouldn’t know mobile web from WiFi but now it’s becoming part of everyday parlance thanks to that little touch screen you can pinch and grab.

And what about some of the cynics that said .mobi had no place in an iPhone world? I love pointing to zagat.mobi as the perfect example of how even great technology cannot replace customer-focused thinking and smart branding. If you’ve had the pleasure of using the zagat.mobi site, you’ll know it’s not a shrunken-down, miniature version of its .com counterpart. It has unique attributes, content, and layout that cater to my specific needs while using a mobile phone. For example, the phone numbers are hyperlinked so I can directly call the restaurant and book a table. And when using it from the iPhone, it knows where I am and provides a map and directions. Now this is giving the people what they want!

And having a .mobi domain is like having bragging rights to say "Yes, I get the mobile web! I'm about to give you a very cool experience that's different from what you get at your PC." Now, thanks to these 30 seconds, millions of people are hearing that message from zagat.mobi.

Speaking of spreading the word ...

A dotMobi Happening. Maybe in your city?

We attend and speak at a variety of domain name industry conferences such as T.R.A.F.F.I.C., DOMAINfest, DomainRoundtable and ICANN, and always enjoy meeting .mobi enthusiasts face-to-face at such events. But one thing that has been missing is the opportunity to meet domainers and others with interest in .mobi who are not able to attend the major conferences, either because of logistics or cost.

To that end we’re looking at hosting dotMobi Happenings in several cities this year. The idea of a happening is just that. They will happen where a concentration of enthusiasts suggest when and where they should happen. The Happenings will be free, casual and very conversational---an opportunity to meet with dotMobi executives, investors and developers and speak freely about what’s on your mind and what’s on ours. And of course any food and beverages associated with such a happening will be on us!

I’ve already fielded interest in advance of this post, and am looking to announce our first Happening very soon. Until then I encourage you to comment or send an email to me at pbrand@mtld.mobi if you think we should come to your city or region. Don’t be shy---it takes time to coordinate these things---the early bird usually gets the worm!

December Online Auction: Next Steps

dotMobi would like to update the community on our efforts to resolve the issues relating to the Sedo auction that took place last December. We recognise that some people have been frustrated by the pace at which things have been moving, but this has been an extremely complex and difficult issue with many moving parts. That said, we are happy to report that significant progress has been made in the last couple of weeks.

We have now reached out to all of the auction stakeholders -- both the high bidders in the extended auction and those who received a notice in error as a result of the crash. We put a compromise proposal on the table and asked for feedback. Fewer than 10 of the more than 70 stakeholders rejected our proposal; since the proposal appears to have the support of the community, we are now moving forward with it. In the small number of cases where competing claims remain, we will provide appropriate assurances to the bidder entitled to the name under our proposal.

We will be contacting each bidder individually over the next few days, but the next steps will be as follows:

1. We have already delivered the authorisation codes for the names to Sedo for release in accordance with the proposal.
2. Each stakeholder will receive a detailed Agreement that describes the settlement, states our mutual obligations and releases claims arising in connection with the auction.
3. Sedo will release the codes once the stakeholder has faxed a signed copy of the Agreement to Sedo and wired the necessary funds to their Sedo account.
4. We will then begin to release the declined and substitute names to those who have faxed the signed Agreements to Sedo.

Clearly, the sooner people fax the Agreements and wire the funds, the quicker they will be in a position to register the names. And to participate in the allocation of declined and substitute names, signed Agreements must also be faxed to Sedo.

As we reach these final stages, we would like to thank everyone involved for their patience and understanding throughout this entire process. It has certainly been a unique experience with valuable lessons learned on all sides. The passion and commitment demonstrated by the community for .mobi domains has been extraordinary  and that is what excites us most as we draw a line under this chapter and move on.

Something's in the Air

I don’t know why these things always come in waves, but I've seen a small hangerful of .mobi airline sites go live over the past week or so. KLM.mobi is live. Aerlingus.mobi is now live (and I'm happy about that even if there's an "aerlingus.com" on the mobile home page.) airfrance.mobi is up but it's currently redirecting to another mobile address and doesn't seem to be redirecting consistently yet.

In the US only, Virgin Atlantic -- one of my personal heroes of an airline -- has launched the stylish lovefromabove.mobi, a promotional web site for a series of Virgin Atlantic events going on in Chicago and NYC.

And speaking of travel ... dotMobi is hitting the road hard next week. Part of the crew is heading to the next ICANN meeting in New Delhi, which marks dotMobi's first formal visit to India. And some of us will be at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. We're working with the dotMobi Advisory Group at a booth in Hall 7 (7H49). If you're attending, please stop by and let us know what cool .mobi sites you've been working on.

Dublin scores with .mobi ...

The planned launch of Dublin.mobi took place last week in time for the first Six Nations Rugby match hosted by the city. This has been the result of several months work with Dublin Tourism who will now be actively promoting the site both locally and abroad. The Rubgy weekends are a high point in Dublin's sporting (and social!) calendar and thousands of tourists pouring into the city will now be able to find their way around Dublin using some of the cool features on the site. Hopefully this was of some consolation to the unlucky Italians!

Check out the recently launched Frankfurt.mobi as well, and look out for some more city.mobi site launches in the coming weeks (including one next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona). And we have some exciting news regarding the City Names Process up our sleeves. Stay tuned!

They say, "It never rains in Southern California" ...

... but it was raining buckets last week during DOMAINfest Global 2008 in Hollywood. It was also raining domainers who are enthusiastic about dotMobi and that gravitated to our exhibit to try to win the totally cool new Nokia N95 we gave away just before the live auction. The lucky winner was Ken Bhullar, the Chief Idea Officer for Unlimited, Inc. in the greater Los Angeles area. Ken has registered 200-plus .mobi names, and it was a pleasure speaking with him and addressing the DOMAINfest audience on how we are reinvesting the dollars we earn from our Premium Name auction sales back into tools and resources such as site.mobi, dev.mobi and ready.mobi that will help Ken and others develop and monetize their .mobi assets.

For those of you that we missed at DOMAINfest, we hope to see you at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West in Vegas in a few weeks.