dotMobi

It's Crunchies Time!

The 2008 Crunchies are here. This is the second annual competition under the "Crunchies" banner to recognize and celebrate the most compelling internet and technology innovations of the year.

It's an "American Idol" / "X Factor" / "Star Academy" style nomination process, so have some fun nominating some of your favorites (maybe even dotMobi).

dotMobi Domain Release News

The dotMobi team arrived home from the ICANN Cairo meeting with a real jewel in their crown: after more than 5 months of sitting "in process," our application to ICANN for the release of single character domains on the second level has finally been approved by the ICANN Board. This paves the way for release of these domains (e.g.,  x.mobi, a.mobi, 1.mobi) via a Request for Proposals (RFP) process whereby content applications are sought from the market and evaluated by dotMobi on the basis of certain pre-defined criteria.

Single character domains are highly sought after in the domain world and work particularly well with the .mobi TLD since domain addresses requiring shorter keystrokes on handsets are extremely desirable. dotMobi is one of the first Registries to be allowed to release single character domains, and brand owners should be able to build and market their associated mobile presence in ways previously unimagined.

dotMobi has also just received the green light from ICANN to allocate its two character names on the second level (e.g.,  ab.mobi, g3.mobi, 44.mobi). As with the single character release, these domains will not be auctioned, rather issued via RFP to qualified applicants.

Both sets of domain releases -- each one due to commence shortly -- demonstrate dotMobi's continued commitment to secure quality, innovative content that best serves the needs of the mobile community.

dotMobi drives mass market adoption of the mobile Web with Instant Mobilizer

On Tuesday, November 11, dotMobi issued a press release on the availability of Instant Mobilizer™, a patent-pending service created by dotMobi to help small and medium businesses around the world reach their customers quickly and affordably through the mobile Web. The following is an excerpt from that "very good news" press release:

With Instant Mobilizer and a .mobi domain, tens of millions of small and medium-sized businesses can effortlessly interact with the 1.3 billion of potential customers connected to the Internet through mobile phones.

Without any need for technical knowledge or development efforts, Instant Mobilizer automatically converts a small business's existing PC site to ensure the best customer experience regardless of phone model or mobile carrier. Unlike other solutions, Instant Mobilizer gives users a branded, mobile-friendly site for their on-the-go customers, instead of leaving their Web site to be randomly transcoded by unknown operators or devices.

And every customer benefits from dotMobi's award-winning DeviceAtlas™ device database, which optimizes Instant Mobilizer sites using dotMobi best practices, so that every phone receives eye-catching results.

dotMobi has designed Instant Mobilizer to meet the needs of small business owners globally with such features as: 

• Immediate, easy access to key Web site information such as phone number and address
• Automatic links to Google™ Maps
• Quick phone number links that call your business with one click
• Unique access to key features of your customers’ phones

dotMobi's Instant Mobilizer is being released via registrars basis across Europe and North America beginning in November 2008 and expanding to other markets thereafter.

dotMobi says, "Why .tel?"

When the .mobi domain launched in September 2006, people quickly understood it was a top-level domain designed to locate mobile content in the same way – for example – that .se locates Swedish content or .museum helps users recognize genuine museum activity. In short, think “mobile phone” when you think “.mobi”.

Now, the .tel domain is launching … and people are asking, “Won’t .tel help me locate content that will work on a phone – mobile or not? Do I still need a .mobi domain?”

The purpose of these two domains is very different. There is no overlap except in that they can easily work together to make content creation a bit easier.

To better understand, think of “.tel” as being shorthand for “telephone directory.” The .tel domain allows users to put personal or corporate contact information directly in the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS), which then makes that contact information universally accessible. In other words, you update your information in one place and it then populates across every single place where you reference that .tel domain.

This is a unique application for a top-level domain. Definitely, .tel does not act at all like other top-level domains, where the DNS provides a mapping between domain names (like dotMobi.mobi) and IP addresses (84.51.242.25), so that users can more easily find content instead of worrying about the numeric sequence of the IP address.

In practical terms, this means you would likely use “MyCompanyName.tel” to create a simple “address book” style entry that would be repurposed across a wide range of digital media and traditional media as “See MyCompanyName.tel for ways you can reach us.”

You use “MyCompanyName.mobi” as a way to tell your customers and prospects, “I have a site designed for your needs when you’re on the go. This is where you come when you need information that meets your mobile needs.” For example, “Where’s the closest ATM?” or “What’s on the ‘to go’ menu so I can order now and get it as I walk by?” On .mobi pages such as these, you might insert a link to MyCompanyName.tel so that your customer will always have the correct contact information.

Adding to the confusion ...

We keep getting around ...

Where in the world was dotMobi this week?

Well, a pack of us were in Cairo for the most recent ICANN meetings (and I'm sure you'll here more about that soon), but one of us -- James Pearce, our VP of Technology -- was in Stockholm, Sweden. 
He was there to discuss the ways we're looking at using Sweden as a test bed for future innovations on both the domain and the technology front, since Sweden has such a high, tech-savvy population.

He also spoke at The Mobile Focus conference in Kista on November 6 in connection with this year’s Mobile Gala, a mobile awards program. dotMobi was the main partner for this year’s Mobile Focus, whose theme was "Mobile as a Media Channel." Mobile Focus and the Mobile Gala are the biggest annual event in mobility in the Nordic region.

Our friends in Sweden also issued the following press release on our behalf. Since we don't generally make our "in-country" releases globally available, I thought you might enjoy seeing one. For dotMobi followers, this information will be high level; but for the general Swedish public, a bit of basics never hurts.

 (And a side note, one of my favorite Swedish sites is weiwei.mobi for Chinese singer Wei Wei. Although created by Swedish team at Adimo and featuring Sweden-based singer Wei Wei, the site is designed for her Chinese fans, so it's pretty much unknown in Sweden.)

.mobi: serving the masses (at a store near you!)

You might have heard us talking lately about our plans to better serve the Small and Medium Sized business segment (SMBs). This group of (often times) locally run businesses has much to gain from the mobile Internet but faces time, money, and resource constraints -- preventing them from creating their own mobile web presence. And unfortunately their regular websites are likely not meeting their customers’ needs because they haven’t been specifically formatted for mobile use. But do you still think mobile-specific sites are just for the big brands?

Well, what if "locals" could access a mobile-friendly website for their favorite pizza place to view the menu to place their take out order while on the go? 

Or imagine someone commuting to work on the train and checking the gym’s schedule for that evening’s classes. 

Consider a family driving around looking for a new house on the weekend and being able to view interior photos of the home and its key specifications -- right from the mobile website advertised on the sign? 

And what if a visiting tourist looking for an emergency dentist could read patient testimonials and find the office from a map?  

All of these scenarios help consumers better manage their lives through utility and convenience which in turns helps to drive more business to these small and medium size business owners.

Once SMBs can deliver this kind of value to their customers and reap the rewards, the mobile web will be serving the mass market. And we’re not that far away.  

The First Mobile U.S. Presidential Election is Coming to a Close

Just two days from now, the first U.S. presidential where mobile played a role in outreach is coming to a close. And for the mobinauts out there, part of the fun will be getting those results via a .mobi site.

Some election night .mobi sites to visit include:

• ThePresidency.mobi: Features breaking news on both presidential candidates, videos of their latest speeches and wire feeds from the major news networks.
• MSN.mobi: MSN's mobile site features key MSNBC coverage of the election, the latest speeches from both presidential candidates and video of events on the campaign trail.
• FoxNews.mobi: Includes "America's Election HQ" with latest news and sign-up for breaking election alerts to be sent straight to a mobile phone via text on Tuesday.
• BusinessWeek.mobi: The magazine's mobile site includes coverage of the election from a business and financial standpoint.
• Google.mobi: get registration dates and links to state voter registration centers from Google's mobile election portal and watch mobile YouTube coverage of Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain leading up to the big day.
• abcnews.mobi: features a dedicated "Election 2008" section.

I'm sure there are many others out there. Please let us know about them in the comments section of this post.