Every once in a while, I hear from a domain investor who registered .mobi names during our landrush and general registration kick-off two years ago, thinking they would "flip" them in the short-to-medium term without needing to develop them.
These investors are looking for ways to monetize their .mobi domains quickly, whether that be in a traditional manner or to flip their domains to a business owner down the line.
If that is your business model, that’s fine. It means you’re looking to monetize your domains in a way that works for you, and you may be looking at renewals over the coming weeks and months. That said, I’d like this style of investor to know that we are working very hard — probably harder than any company that runs a TLD has ever worked — to support our goals and sustain our mission on a global scale for years to come.
Already, in the past two years, we’ve come a long way. We’ve registered more than a million domain names, and we’re seeing
adoption by an increasing number of the world’s biggest brands.
According to Crisp Wireless, mobile web usage grew nearly 30% in 2Q08
vs 1Q08. The report mentioned that carrier dominance (via on-deck
content) is waning and that users typing property names and / or site
names drove 28.9% of search engine traffic in 2Q08. We believe that
means users are still unclear on how to find their favorite sites and
not always relying on typing in “.com” in the address bar. It
emphasizes a need for a mobile web naming convention — i.e., .mobi — for improved search and discovery.
As I’ve stated before, dotMobi is not just a domain registry: we are
a mobile solutions company. dotMobi’s mission is to enable the mobile
web. To that end, our plans continue to encourage the development of
mobile content via our developer forum and tools like http://ready.mobi and DeviceAtlas as well as to help consumers find that content with the .mobi domain.
And we’re currently working to introduce unique initiatives and services
that are aimed at the small-and medium-sized business markets, which we
believe have strong potential to bring value to .mobi name holdings
over the medium-to-long term.
Ready to renew? Our global network of registrars is ready to address your special renewal needs. Some may even be offering special incentives … so now is the time to investigate!
