Looks like .mobi craze has fizzled out?

[touchring]

Looks like .mobi craze has fizzled out? This must be the shortest domain hype! :o

In comparison, IDN craze lasted a few more months longer.

[Rubber Duck]

Looks like .mobi craze has fizzled out? This must be the shortest domain hype! :o

In comparison, IDN craze lasted a few more months longer.

Yes, one day the self-styled leaders of our industry that splashed out big on dot Mobi are going to wake up and realise that the entire globe cannot actually navigate in English, as they have asserted, and the money that they have blown on an extension that has been hyped on BS and bought in ignorance would have been better invested in IDN.

[Wot]

You guys have obviously missed, or don't want to see, all the sales that are occuring and will continue to do so with the marketing strategy that the .mobi marketeers appear to have.

The same hype with idns would not go amiss. :eek:

[thefabfive]

Looks like .mobi craze has fizzled out? This must be the shortest domain hype!
While I'm not a big fan of .mobi I have to agree with Wot. Where are you getting your information from?

[OldIDNer]

laptops.mobi just sold for $32,900 on afternic

[Drewbert]

Hype is EXACTLY what this mobi craze is.

Just another .biz in the making.

[touchring]

You guys have obviously missed, or don't want to see, all the sales that are occuring and will continue to do so with the marketing strategy that the .mobi marketeers appear to have.

The same hype with idns would not go amiss. :eek:


We all know that sales don't mean anything. A few guys can arrange a few i sell you, you sell me, and some will follow.

I'm making this judgement based on the amount of .mobi "chatter" on DNF and DS.

[Wot]

Hype is EXACTLY what this mobi craze is.

Just another .biz in the making.


Nope, disagree - .mobi is already way past .biz in sales sizes and possibly volume and probably even in recognition. :eek:

[burnsinternet]

I don't understand it. I don't want to waste time on .mobi, myself.

However, .mobi buyers probably look at IDNs in the same way....

Only time will tell.

[touchring]

I don't understand it. I don't want to waste time on .mobi, myself.

However, .mobi buyers probably look at IDNs in the same way....

Only time will tell.


There's no need to wait for time to tell, we're already earning PPC with IDNs.

[burnsinternet]

Yes, but to be fair, I believe that the .mobi domains are selling for quite a bit more than the IDNs overall because 'they can' and not because the market fundamentals (PPC, etc.) are sound.

IDNs are, also, not showing PPC that would demand the large prices. It is still speculation. And before anyone flames me for that, take a long hard look at our overall PPC so far. Ask NameDrive for global stats. IDN domains are a miniscule amount of their income. Excluding sales from/to/between a small group of IDNers, the majority of us can honestly say it is speculation.

This DOES NOT mean that I see it as a bad investment. It means that I see it as a risk. We never really knew if MS IE7 would support IDNs (they dropped a lot of Vista functionality/promises before release). We never knew when it would be released. We still don't know that some other 'bump in the road' might be ahead (governmental interference, new hacker/phishing concerns that never occurred to us before, etc.). We don't even know when users will use IDNs like they use current ASCII domains. We cannot 'prove' anything. The future is always uncertain.

The big differences? Companies already use browser detection for mobile devices (I surf with a PDA and I see it). Companies have already branded their .coms, etc. This is a problem for .mobi domains. We IDNers still have to overcome that ASCII 'branding' hurdle, but it may not be as big a deal for a whole lot of reasons that we all know.

Let's try to keep good relations with these ascii-only folks. Anyone who can spend that kind of money on .mobi domains will respond favorably to IDNs once the market forces push them our way.

[Wot]

I sometimes fail to understand some of you guys, .mobi .whatever - they are all domain names.

Why you have created this ascii and idns thing is beyond me and has been a detractor to the idn cause. And now you want to make an us and them with everything. :confused:

.asia will be coming up in the not too distant future - another one you can hammer - until of course they offer idns and then just like those orrible .info , .biz things the majority of you will jump in.

They are domain names , that is the business you are in , diversification in all things is a fair way forward - .mobi , .com , .whatever.

To cover your heads in the sand and hope that what is currently a steam train for .mobi is naive.

"We all know that sales don't mean anything. A few guys can arrange a few i sell you, you sell me, and some will follow." -come on!


Given the opportunity who would be the first to reg 中国.mobi - nobody here - yeah right. :)

[burnsinternet]

Face it, there are some very strong ascii-only opinions out there. I can point you to a few DNF posts if you don't believe there are IDN haters. I am not making that up myself.

I doubt anyone is idn-only except the true newbies. Just because I think .mobi is trash does not mean I am anti-ascii. I have hundreds of ascii domains (many members here have many more than I). The same reason I have only one .cc and only three or four .tv is because I was able to get some really strong keywords at the time. I also have three strong keyword .la domains with decent stats. But, for the most part, that extension is trash.

I might possibly get an IDN.mobi, but I seriously doubt I would be able to get a strong keyword. If I could, I might get one or two IDN.mobi for resale or kicks. Maybe. I am not sold on that extension or most other extensions. I am sold on strong Spanish IDN.biz because I live in the USA. Canada is French/English and USA is English/Spanish. If I didn't live my entire life around Spanish speakers, I would probably not understand it either. Some languages may seem a longshot for IDN.com to me, but someone out there is going to go for it.

Yes, it is about money, but also about faith and risk. I would not likely risk my money on .mobi because I have no faith in that extension. It really makes no sense to claim it as the 'mobile' extension when that is clearly untrue. IDNs (and the things I believe about IDNs) do ring true to me.

I don't have the patience or stomach to try to flip any .mobi when I am so busy with what I see as a better investment. Personal choice and personal risk. It is not a ascii vs idn thing. The ascii-only fanatics (and there are some that call us wicked names) are creating that distinction. Not I. I am certainly willing to agree that IDN is a risk and that we could all be truly delusional. We could be dead wrong about this IDN thing.

Anyone claiming to know the future is probably selling something to you at a high price - whether .mobi or IDN. All domains are a risk.

Only time will tell.


To cover your heads in the sand and hope that what is currently a steam train for .mobi is naive.


I am not burying my head in the sand. I never wanted a .mobi domain. Nor do I want a .ws, .bz, .ag, .sc, .io, .ac, or .name domain. I do not want to compete in those arenas. Personal preference, not sand diving. Just because others like .mobi doesn't mean that I have to buy one, too.

I also chose to ignore some of the 'fads' at IDNF a year or more ago. While most were squeezing out everything Japanese, others of us chose to go after other languages. Just because Japanese IDNs are a good investment doesn't mean I dove for the sands of Russia and covered my head. I have limited time and resources. We are not all the same.

[touchring]

The verdict on IDF fads is not out yet, i think no one can be sure of that.

While names like Turkish has high traffic, but at 1 cent a click, it won't perform much better than a Japanese name. btw, i was told, 1 cents might even be 0 cents since ND will even pay when Google doesn't pay.

[burnsinternet]

The verdict on IDF fads is not out yet, i think no one can be sure of that.

While names like Turkish has high traffic, but at 1 cent a click, it won't perform much better than a Japanese name. btw, i was told, 1 cents might even be 0 cents since ND will even pay when Google doesn't pay.

Very true. And the jury is still out on .mobi, but I have my own opinions about that, too. We all have our 'crazes' and fads based on hearsay or hype. How many of us have a Japanese IDN with 'hotel' in it and it has never been viewed? How many of us have tried to translate big ASCII names (from latest reported sales) into IDNs without even considering cultural implications? We are all so quick to reg (IDN, .mobi, or .whatever) that we are also quick to judge. And a quick reg can be very good! Or really silly.

Either way, domains are domains in the same way that real estate is real estate. Few investors can successfully focus on every area and do well long-term.

As far as I can tell, .mobi is selling, IDNers are regging away, and the general public still has little clue about domaining and domainers. And we'll all laugh at the ascii-idn distinction in a few years.

Of course, I could be wrong. :p

[Wot]

I have never regged a bad domain name and I have never been wrong - not since the last time. :)

[touchring]

I have never regged a bad domain name


Wow, now this is what i call confidence! ;)

[Wot]

Wow, now this is what i call confidence! ;)

That is what I call taking a statement out of context :)


I have never regged a bad domain name and I have never been wrong - not since the last time

[Rubber Duck]

Nope, disagree - .mobi is already way past .biz in sales sizes and possibly volume and probably even in recognition. :eek:

Yes, but much of this is based on a complete lie. The sheep like ASCII set have bought it because many of them think it is essential to internet access. They believe that like dot com, all the big corporations will use it. This is simply not true. It will soon become clear that the simple solution is to set up a subdomain where all the Mobile traffic is simply redirected. Obviously, a condensed format will be required and perhaps something similar to the dot Mobi standard will be adopted. What is not required, and the underlying assumption that whole speculation bubble is being based on, is that mega corporations will need to register dot Mobi to participate in the inevitable mobile surfing boom.

What most forget is that Japan, Korea and China already have very strong online surfing markets and they predate the launch of dot mobi. The problem has largely arisen due to the misassumption by the US that they are still at the cutting edge.

Yes, some IDN hype would be excellent. Verisign would need to deliver no that, and to date they have not done so. Perhaps they are keeping their powder dry until the minute that they feel an assault will have the most impact. Verisign are certainly not going to stand back and watch the likes of Affilias or Mobi walk all over them. Don't forget they have been in the market for for best part of ten years and have stayed the course. When it comes to advertising budgets, I think they could go head to head with the Mobi Registry if they wished.

[Wot]

Whilst I agree that the ascii (domainers also) guys have been jumping in to .mobi because of it being promoted as THE "way to access the internet via a mobile".

Now if that catches on with joe public, who certainly knows even less, then you have something that could really take off. It would then be difficult to change the mindset and joe public will be actively seeking the .mobi logo so he/she can access the net - certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility and I believe that is the direction the .mobi marketeers will be taking - they do not care, and will certainly not be advising that there is an alternative way to do it.

They are in the process of branding their product- time will tell.

On that basis I have added a dozen .mobi to my pathetic portfolio. :eek:

[burnsinternet]

Yes, but much of this is based on a complete lie. The sheep like ASCII set have bought it because many of them think it is essential to internet access. They believe that like dot com, all the big corporations will use it. This is simply not true.

I agree 100% that I believe it is based on lies or misdirection. I would add that some domainers are not sheep and are flipping .mobi domains for a fast buck. We saw flippers here who had no faith in IDN. If I thought I could get a reasonable .mobi and flip it for profit, I would. My fear is that I would get stuck with it.

Additionally, my PDA has a nice big screen and fast broadband. I can surf and often do. I have never (NEVER EVER) seen a redirect to .mobi or .mp or any other extension. Either a site is not mobile-ready or the site detects my browser and shifts me to a mobile subdomain.

I'll admit that I may be wrong, but I cannot imagine that any company would waste time on .mobi unless it redirects to the real mobile pages on the .com site. It seems strange that so many believe the .mobi story. Does anyone have any information that any large company is really going to use .mobi?

[Wot]

I agree 100% that I believe it is based on lies or misdirection. I would add that some domainers are not sheep and are flipping .mobi domains for a fast buck. We saw flippers here who had no faith in IDN. If I thought I could get a reasonable .mobi and flip it for profit, I would. My fear is that I would get stuck with it.



I personally bought and flipped 11 .mobi the profit from which paid for the ones I have now and a couple of idns. Actually had a member here basically say they would not have got out of bed for it - words to that effect anyway. Profit is profit is profit.

[Rubber Duck]

Whilst I agree that the ascii (domainers also) guys have been jumping in to .mobi because of it being promoted as THE "way to access the internet via a mobile".

Now if that catches on with joe public, who certainly knows even less, then you have something that could really take off. It would then be difficult to change the mindset and joe public will be actively seeking the .mobi logo so he/she can access the net - certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility and I believe that is the direction the .mobi marketeers will be taking - they do not care, and will certainly not be advising that there is an alternative way to do it.

They are in the process of branding their product- time will tell.

On that basis I have added a dozen .mobi to my pathetic portfolio. :eek:

Without content any extension will ultimately die. Our biggest problem at the moment after browser support is lack of content, but it is reasonable to assume in our case that Companies will either take a dual domain approach or they will rebrand. Infact is it likely to be a step by step approach. It won't happen without browser support. With browser support they have nothing to lose and much to gain.

Joe public isn't going to provide much by way of content for dot mobi. If the big companies don't use it, then the current prices are going to crash very hard indeed. It is much more difficult to recover from a crash than to hype an initial launch. It has take about 5 years for IDN to recover from the initial set backs. In many ways we would probably be further forward if Verisign had launched IDN last month. Individuals here, however, would not be so well placed.

[seamo]

I'll admit that I may be wrong, but I cannot imagine that any company would waste time on .mobi unless it redirects to the real mobile pages on the .com site. It seems strange that so many believe the .mobi story. Does anyone have any information that any large company is really going to use .mobi?
I believe the key is "necessity is the mother of invention".

Is a .mobi extension actually necessary? No - it can all be done by making a site mobile accessible at the coding level (using this same logic - are ANY of the other extensions truly necessary?)

.Mobi seems like another gust of hot air and hype aimed squarely at the domain speculation market to suck funds out of the flippers and investors. At the end of the day, there will be few winners...(except the registrar's)

On the other hand, multi-lingual domains ARE necessary. I believe they will become such an integral part of the internet's structure that it's ASCII controlled beginnings will be viewed as a quaint and distant remnant of a by-gone colonial era.

[Rubber Duck]

I believe the key is "necessity is the mother of invention".

Is a .mobi extension actually necessary? No - it can all be done by making a site mobile accessible at the coding level (using this same logic - are ANY of the other extensions truly necessary?)

.Mobi seems like another gust of hot air and hype aimed squarely at the domain speculation market to suck funds out of the flippers and investors. At the end of the day, there will be few winners...(except the registrar's)

On the other hand, multi-lingual domains ARE necessary. I believe they will become such an integral part of the internet's structure that it's ASCII controlled beginnings will be viewed as a quaint and distant remnant of a by-gone colonial era.

Nailed it!

[burnsinternet]

I believe the key is "necessity is the mother of invention".

Is a .mobi extension actually necessary? No - it can all be done by making a site mobile accessible at the coding level (using this same logic - are ANY of the other extensions truly necessary?)

.Mobi seems like another gust of hot air and hype aimed squarely at the domain speculation market to suck funds out of the flippers and investors. At the end of the day, there will be few winners...(except the registrar's)

On the other hand, multi-lingual domains ARE necessary. I believe they will become such an integral part of the internet's structure that it's ASCII controlled beginnings will be viewed as a quaint and distant remnant of a by-gone colonial era.

I think we all believe that to some degree, or we wouldn't be here.

I have seen plenty of real world reasons to believe that IDN will take off. The best reason is that companies already hype and advertise IDN domains and they don't even realize it. I see plenty of IDN.jp, .ru, .com, etc. on marketing material and even ASCII web sites!

Does anyone have any information on any company switching to .mobi? Has anyone seen a real .mobi site in the wild? I would really like to know this.

[touchring]

I personally bought and flipped 11 .mobi the profit from which paid for the ones I have now and a couple of idns. Actually had a member here basically say they would not have got out of bed for it - words to that effect anyway. Profit is profit is profit.


Ahh, flipping, this makes sense. To ride on the hype created by the biggies.

[Rubber Duck]

Ahh, flipping, this makes sense. To ride on the hype created by the biggies.

Flippers are your true non-believers. They just moved from one big thing to the next.

Well guys, my advice would be check out The Last Resort by the Eagles:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eagles/thelastresort.html

[touchring]

I think we all pretty much got a consensus that .mobi is just another extension for everyone to make money.

Just don't be the last one holding the baby. :)

[Drewbert]

Actually had a member here basically say they would not have got out of bed for it - words to that effect anyway. Profit is profit is profit.

Well there's also your street cred to worry about.

Do you really want your legacy to be ".mobi flipper"?

No where near as bad as the "got the USA stuck in Iraq" legacy, but it's a slippery slope.

[Wot]

Well there's also your street cred to worry about.

Do you really want your legacy to be ".mobi flipper"?

No where near as bad as the "got the USA stuck in Iraq" legacy, but it's a slippery slope.


I am in this for the money , what about you - street cred. ?

And no , I have not flipped any of my few hundred IDN's.

I think we all pretty much got a consensus that .mobi is just another extension for everyone to make money.

:)


And we are buying IDN's to contribute to charity, assist developing nations, or is there some other reason?

[burnsinternet]

And we are buying IDN's to contribute to charity, assist developing nations, or is there some other reason?

To paraphrase a wise man, "You can make money from these? I thought we had to buy them to join the forum."

[blastfromthepast]

Symbol domains will rule the net.

[Olney]

As I get deeper into my personal investments & hearing want clients want to develop. You have to realize business is business.
Dot Mobi does have a clear purpose, to increase the amount of mobile content. If it only helps out a little it does it's purpose. Nothing is wrong with investing in something you can make a profit from.
I believe most of us invested in just "domains" before investing in IDN Domains. We are all domain investors. IDNs, ccTLDs, mobile domains, there is options for investors.

[Drewbert]

>Dot Mobi does have a clear purpose

.name had a clear purpose too. And it was a miserable failure because it was doing something that didn't require a special TLD to do so.

Don't believe the hype, it's a sequel.

[blastfromthepast]

>Dot Mobi does have a clear purpose

.name had a clear purpose too. And it was a miserable failure because it was doing something that didn't require a special TLD to do so.

Don't believe the hype, it's a sequel.

The main issue I saw with .name was that 'name' is a long English word that makes no sense to most people in the world, whose names aren't in English.

[Olney]

My clear purpose was referring to attracting end users to develop mobile content for the US market. Since I too was surprised at how many people I know in the States that don't use any of the mobile content features on cell phones, I can respect the decision for corporations to try to spur interest. The extension in my opinion is not about domains, it's about helping to increase a market.
I don't own any but I know before the end of the year I have to get some for testing.

[Wot]

To paraphrase a wise man, "You can make money from these? I thought we had to buy them to join the forum."


Certainly not the case , my 5 months of idn parking income has already made enough to renew 2 of my 400 idn names . :)

>Dot Mobi does have a clear purpose

.name had a clear purpose too. And it was a miserable failure because it was doing something that didn't require a special TLD to do so.

Don't believe the hype, it's a sequel.


Very simply if you make the bet you have two chances - to win or lose.

If you don't make the bet - you have no chance of winning and you save a small stake. ;)

[blastfromthepast]

If you don't play, you can't win.

[touchring]

Certainly not the case , my 5 months of idn parking income has already made enough to renew 2 of my 400 idn names . :)




Very simply if you make the bet you have two chances - to win or lose.

If you don't make the bet - you have no chance of winning and you save a small stake.


Most non-latins, 99% will not get enough type-in to cover reg fees. The remaining 1% will do. Of cos, there's the google/yahoo indexing, which will generate more traffic, but subject to the whimps of the algo.

Latins, as we already know from Dillpup's 130k views a mth, do generate significant PPC.

That being said, my current portfolio of chinese, japanese, arabics and latins makes enough to cover renewal fees just under 5 mths.

Can i achieve the same with .mobi? I would say no, but i might make more money with .mobi if i managed to flip a dozen. So i would say i missed out on the .mobi hype. :o

[Drewbert]

The window for making money off .mobi, while the hype is still there, is closing fast.

[touchring]

I agree, maybe fizzled out is too early a word.

I just took a look at namepros domain name discussion - http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/


Dot MOBI (9 Viewing)
Discussion of the .MOBI TLD

1,627 threads
11,849 posts


Dot US (1 Viewing)
Discussion specific to .US domain names

710 threads
6,859 posts


Dot mobi already has twice the amt of discussions of dot US! :o


And look at the names being discussed or for sale.

venturer.mobi
wanton.mobi
microage.mobi
PokerChampion.mobi
MobileParts.mobi
dugg.mobi
PINCode.mobi
Matedate.mobi
StandBy.mobi
TheStates.mobi

If this is not hype, than what is hype?

Perhaps blast should include a chapter on how .mobi became so successful in his domain thesis. Any thoughts?? :p

[burnsinternet]

Amazing. Simply amazing. At least we know that domaining is still strong, regardless of the domain names.

*sigh*

Compare the .mobi names that have sold to your IDNs, friends, and be happy.

[Rubber Duck]

I think our colleague here should start a new registry. Dot WOT would be a massive success! The f*ckheads would buy anything!

[Prodigy]

I'm looking forward to the hype that will surround .asia... asia is too big to have their own TLD... how about .NorthAmerica and .Texas... ICANN sucks a fat one.

[OldIDNer]

As I get deeper into my personal investments & hearing want clients want to develop. You have to realize business is business.
Dot Mobi does have a clear purpose, to increase the amount of mobile content. If it only helps out a little it does it's purpose. Nothing is wrong with investing in something you can make a profit from.
I believe most of us invested in just "domains" before investing in IDN Domains. We are all domain investors. IDNs, ccTLDs, mobile domains, there is options for investors.

amen

[seamo]

And look at the names being discussed or for sale.

venturer.mobi
wanton.mobi
microage.mobi
PokerChampion.mobi
MobileParts.mobi
dugg.mobi
PINCode.mobi
Matedate.mobi
StandBy.mobi
TheStates.mobi

If this is not hype, than what is hype?


Agreed...you've got to be freakin' joking?!!

I've regged some sh*t in my time, but these are scrapin' the barrel.


And ppl laugh off IDN's?

[touchring]

Agreed...you've got to be freakin' joking?!!

I've regged some sh*t in my time, but these are scrapin' the barrel.


And ppl laugh off IDN's?


I hardly got to scrape? I got those in one scoop from page one of .mobi discussion! http://www.namepros.com/dot-mobi/

I'm looking forward to the hype that will surround .asia... asia is too big to have their own TLD... how about .NorthAmerica and .Texas... ICANN sucks a fat one.


How about .westerner.

[seamo]

How about .westerner.

I love it! :)

I'm aimin' to reg westerner.westerner

Hey - badger seems like he's the only sane voice in a house full of madmen...

awful names guys....

What were you all thinking?

http://www.namepros.com/dot-mobi/241672-mobi-showcase-thread.html

[Rubber Duck]

I hardly got to scrape? I got those in one scoop from page one of .mobi discussion! http://www.namepros.com/dot-mobi/




How about .westerner.

Nada, Western clashes with Dot Arsehole!

I'm looking forward to the hype that will surround .asia... asia is too big to have their own TLD... how about .NorthAmerica and .Texas... ICANN sucks a fat one.

Dot Asia will only work in IDN.IDN!

[lyndonmaxewell]

Yea the Hype just sounds like HYIP ( 'high yield' investment program?) "_

[Prodigy]

.Asia will probably be the most difficult to map in IDN.IDN

I can see the headache coming already!

[Rubber Duck]

.Asia will probably be the most difficult to map in IDN.IDN

I can see the headache coming already!

Don't see the issues. Each language will have a word for Asia in their local script. All these need to encoded into Punycode and aliased as any gTLD would be. Where are the isssues?

[Drewbert]

I predict the IDN naysayers would probably be quite comfortable with homepages in .redneck

[Rubber Duck]

I predict the IDN naysayers would probably be quite comfortable with homepages in .redneck

or

.iwouldhavegotadecentdomainbutiblewmydoshondotmobi

[blastfromthepast]

Don't see the issues. Each language will have a word for Asia in their local script. All these need to encoded into Punycode and aliased as any gTLD would be. Where are the isssues?

In the UK that would be mapped to .Orient, right? :eek:

[Rubber Duck]

In the UK that would be mapped to .Orient, right? :eek:

Well the Americans think we both speak English, so presumably we would get the same alias as them. :)

[Wot]

Well, it has really come to it when the hottest topic of discussion on an IDN forum is another extension, ascii terminology at that, and what other people on a forum with a membership of 40,000 plus are talking about - lets all gather round and titter - ha ha , he he.

The idn"ers continue to bash the the ascii domainers and then wonder why they get negative feedback and are not getting as many converts as they should- but we don't want them do we, want to keep it all for ourselves!

I agree that the majority of the .mobi names being registered are crap, fortunately also being an advocate of IDN's (domain names) I have personally never regged any crap names as I am sure none of the investors on this forum have done because we are too smart.

I continue to see people say that .mobi has failed and will never succeed, well I am afraid that the sales to date dispute that- what other criteria should we be using?


It may well be that if the hype dies down and the .mobi marketeers fail in their objectives then .mobi will disappear up it's own backside - currently that is not happening.

[Rubber Duck]

Well, it has really come to it when the hottest topic of discussion on an IDN forum is another extension, ascii terminology at that, and what other people on a forum with a membership of 40,000 plus are talking about - lets all gather round and titter - ha ha , he he.

The idn"ers continue to bash the the ascii domainers and then wonder why they get negative feedback and are not getting as many converts as they should- but we don't want them do we, want to keep it all for ourselves!

I agree that the majority of the .mobi names being registered are crap, fortunately also being an advocate of IDN's (domain names) I have personally never regged any crap names as I am sure none of the investors on this forum have done because we are too smart.

I continue to see people say that .mobi has failed and will never succeed, well I am afraid that the sales to date dispute that- what other criteria should we be using?


It may well be that if the hype dies down and the .mobi marketeers fail in their objectives then .mobi will disappear up it's own backside - currently that is not happening.

Without serious commercial Content and Traffic it will be as dead as the Norwegian Blue.

The prices have gone far too far, far too quickly. What sort of return on the money are these cavalier investor going to see. If prices go into reverse there will be panic.

The bottom line is that these speculative investments have been made on the assumption that everyone will need dot mobi. The crash will come on the realisation that nobody actually needs it.

[Wot]

Without serious commercial Content and Traffic it will be as dead as the Norwegian Blue.

The prices have gone far too far, far too quickly. What sort of return on the money are these cavalier investor going to see. If prices go into reverse there will be panic.

The bottom line is that these speculative investments have been made on the assumption that everyone will need dot mobi. The crash will come on the realisation that nobody actually needs it.


I may happen, it may not- need or not - if the need is assumed by effective active marketing and the branding is successful then the fact that there are alternatives may not matter.

I am surprised that you for one who stood up for IDN's whilst being derided from every quarter of the domaining world have such a closed mind on this by dismissing out of hand.

I have no idea what will happen, subsequently I am hedging my bets. Worst case is my small inveatment in another " opportunity" may fall flat on it's face - alternatively I may be able to say - told yah so!

Don't forget , not everybody needs IDN's , english is fairly well accepted just about everywhere in the world. (That should stir it up a bit)

[Rubber Duck]

I may happen, it may not- need or not - if the need is assumed by effective active marketing and the branding is successful then the fact that there are alternatives may not matter.

I am surprised that you for one who stood up for IDN's whilst being derided from every quarter of the domaining world have such a closed mind on this by dismissing out of hand.

I have no idea what will happen, subsequently I am hedging my bets. Worst case is my small inveatment in another " opportunity" may fall flat on it's face - alterativley I may be able to say - told yah so!

Don't forget , not everybody needs IDN's , english is fairly well accepted just about everywhere in the world.

The marketing has been very effective but it would seem that the big companies are just putting an M. in front of their dot coms. Subdomaining gets around all the techinical issues and also keeps the integrity of their branding.

IDN are needed. English is not a universal language. The Chinese and Japanese went Internet Mobile before dot Mobi was even heard of. They didn't need it, the large companies have not been conned. The only people that have been taken in are the those that chant dot com in king!

[Wot]

The marketing has been very effective but it would seem that the big companies are just putting an M. in front of their dot coms. Subdomaining gets around all the techinical issues and also keeps the integrity of their branding.

IDN are needed. English is not a universal language. The Chinese and Japanese went Internet Mobile before dot Mobi was even heard of. They didn't need it, the large companies have not been conned. The only people that have been taken in are the those that chant dot com in king!


I did not say that IDN are not needed , just not needed everywhere. The large majority of my second rate IDN's are Chinese, Japanese - and predominately Thai (The first of which is in the middle of development).

Incidentally - RubberDuck.wot and RD.wot are on the reserved list and will be offered for auction at the next Traffic conference with a suitable amount of hype to ensure I make a lot of money. :)

[yanni]

I too think .mobi is hyped up but I believe that it will stick. Don't ask me why.

As for the junk.mobi's being offered for sale it may very well mean that the ones with the good names are holding on long term; meaning they have faith in the extension.

Look at all the questionable IDNs being flipped the past few months. What does this say for idn in general?

BTW, major corps are into them; I just got a suit threat from a telcom for a mobi I regged (yes, I got about 20) which is confusingly similar to their trademark.

I wouldn't dismiss mobi 100%.
At the end of the day, a solid keyword is a solid keyword in any extension. O.k., except for .name maybe.

As for ASCII bashing; I make my living off them so, whaddup wid dat?

[Drewbert]

It may well be that if the hype dies down and the .mobi marketeers fail in their objectives then .mobi will disappear up it's own backside - currently that is not happening.

'Tis the prediction of Drewbert.

[touchring]

It may well be that if the hype dies down and the .mobi marketeers fail in their objectives then .mobi will disappear up it's own backside - currently that is not happening.


From the look of it, and the faith asciiers have on .mobi, this hype is going to continue for a bit longer.

We can only hope that the evitable fallout doesn't affect the rest of the industry. :)

Nevertheless, i brought up this example to show how the masses can become illusionary and become mere pawns of the registries and ICANN. To overpay for an IDN is one thing - but to pay 10 times more for an eventually worthless name is really amazing.

[Wot]

From the look of it, and the faith asciiers have on .mobi, this hype is going to continue for a bit longer.

We can only hope that the evitable fallout doesn't affect the rest of the industry. :)

Nevertheless, i brought up this example to show how the masses can become illusionary and become mere pawns of the registries and ICANN. To overpay for an IDN is one thing - but to pay 10 times more for an eventually worthless name is really amazing.


The illusion seems to be where you are coming from - along with the multitude of crap names there are many significant sales which you continue to choose to ignore.

.mobi may well die a death , but it certainly ain't happening now.

Now , if we could generate the same interest in IDN's the guys on the forum may have something else to talk about. :eek:

[Rubber Duck]

From the look of it, and the faith asciiers have on .mobi, this hype is going to continue for a bit longer.

We can only hope that the evitable fallout doesn't affect the rest of the industry. :)

Nevertheless, i brought up this example to show how the masses can become illusionary and become mere pawns of the registries and ICANN. To overpay for an IDN is one thing - but to pay 10 times more for an eventually worthless name is really amazing.

Any market surge that is not support by fundamentals will eventually collapse. The higher it surges the more abrupt the collapse will be. Eventually the Emporer will see that his new clothes are worthless.

[burnsinternet]

What happened with .name? Does anyone know what the highs and lows were like and for how long? I didn't pay attention.

I would have missed .mobi and thought nothing of it, but it seems to be a big topic of discussion here.

[touchring]

The illusion seems to be where you are coming from - along with the multitude of crap names there are many significant sales which you continue to choose to ignore.

I'm aware of a few big sales like flowers.mobi, fun.mobi and hot.mobi (http://www.namepros.com/257711-reported-mobi-sales-since-landrush-4.html#post1622997), i'm showing some of the crap names recently registered just to illustrate the level of craze - for i'm sure many of us here would be surprised how easily the market can be manipulated and how people can fall for such manipulation. We should thank our lucky stars that Verisign didn't do a landrush or launch for idn, or we'll all end up with junk and the better names impossible to get.

.mobi may well die a death , but it certainly ain't happening now.

Yes, it ain't happening now - we have already proven that this will go on for sometime. It's ok if you have just placed a few $30 bets - not much to lose anyway, and if you managed to flip a few, it will become instant profit! So the key is not to be the last guy holding the baby. :)

What happened with .name?

.name? That's ancient, in dot com speed, died half a century ago, and turned to dust!

You should ask, what happened to .EU?

[burnsinternet]

You should ask, what happened to .EU?

OK, what happened with .eu?

I asked, but I am still curious about .name... and when .texas and .california will be released. :p

[touchring]

OK, what happened with .eu?

I asked, but I am still curious about .name... and when .texas and .california will be released. :p


Uh, no, i just thought that it got sidelined by .mobi so quickly. Not implying that .eu is inferior. In fact, i thought that .eu is a better extension.

[domainstosell]

Without serious commercial Content and Traffic it will be as dead as the Norwegian Blue.

He's not dead, he's pining for the fjords...

But seriously, I agree, the pure need for .mobi is just not there - mobile browsing is a technical issue, not a URL issue. The need is nowhere near as compelling as that for IDN. However, that didn't stop me from regging a couple for the heck of it.

I don't think there is anything wrong with spending $50 or $100 or even a little more if you've got it, just in the sense of diversifying and gaining familiarity with different aspect of the market.

What I can't believe is the level of bad regs out there. I got my first (and planning on being my only) 2 .mobis last week - AreaRestaurants.mobi and CarLots.mobi. Now, while these two may not win any awards for "Best in Show", they are still better than a lot of the junk I am seeing on the various forums. My point (or at least, the lesson that I am trying to learn from this) is that marketing goes a long way toward persuading decisions.

Say what you will about the extension; the people pushing the marketing are geniuses. This may be the kind of effort needed behind marketing IDN. Then again, this marketing tactic may be working because they are only selling the "sizzle" and there is not a bite of "steak" in sight. Something to think about, anyway...

[Rubber Duck]

He's not dead, he's pining for the fjords...

But seriously, I agree, the pure need for .mobi is just not there - mobile browsing is a technical issue, not a URL issue. The need is nowhere near as compelling as that for IDN. However, that didn't stop me from regging a couple for the heck of it.

I don't think there is anything wrong with spending $50 or $100 or even a little more if you've got it, just in the sense of diversifying and gaining familiarity with different aspect of the market.

What I can't believe is the level of bad regs out there. I got my first (and planning on being my only) 2 .mobis last week - AreaRestaurants.mobi and CarLots.mobi. Now, while these two may not win any awards for "Best in Show", they are still better than a lot of the junk I am seeing on the various forums. My point (or at least, the lesson that I am trying to learn from this) is that marketing goes a long way toward persuading decisions.

Say what you will about the extension; the people pushing the marketing are geniuses. This may be the kind of effort needed behind marketing IDN. Then again, this marketing tactic may be working because they are only selling the "sizzle" and there is not a bite of "steak" in sight. Something to think about, anyway...

I think they have over played their hand. A true explosion always leaves a vacuum behind it! The consequent implosion is almost inevitable.

On the IDN front there is big new out there if you have a look at the Chinese and Japanese markets. If you cannot work it out then then answer is at DNlocal. I think Microsoft will be forced to bring forward AU for these markets.

[touchring]

We should also not forget that IDNs nearly had an explosion just a few months ago.

[Prodigy]

What explosion? All this metaphorical edumacated talking is making my head hurt.

[Rubber Duck]

What explosion? All this metaphorical edumacated talking is making my head hurt.

Quite correct. We had a minor advance in prices amongst a very small select group. That doesn't constitute the over hyping a product that is based on very sound fundamentals that has not even registered in the wider domain community yet let alone the public at large. A slowing in the growth of the investor pool, combined with people being more adept at find names on one hand and the growing acceptance of more mediocre names on the other has led to a stall in price growth, but that in no way compares with the dot mobi situation.

The fact that Yahoo.co.jp now has a link to IE7 immediately below the highly sought after text box in Japan, which will lead to vast numbers of people having Yahoo Toolbar by default, means that MSNs hope of getting a toe hold in the Japanese market is seriously jeopardised. The situation for China is worse with yahoo.cn having a big banner right across the top of the page (not viewable with IE7 and perhaps not MACs either).

If Microsofts marketing people understand anything at all, it will only be days before they realise that to defend any hope they have of establishing themselves in Global Search they have no choice but to roll AU whether the Vista crowd like it or not. MSN has been heading South in recent months despite Bill's assertions that he would come from behind. If they do not act to rectifiy this mess of their own making they are going to be a global laughing stock!

[markits]

Very good discussions here.

Chinastar: by "explosion", touchring was talking about a few premium idn sales happened a few month ago.

I personally still deeply believe in idn. It is a long term investment though. Many started regging/investing on idns back in year 2000 . Only until recently are people such as RD and Touch starting to see revenues from idns. It will only get better and better.

.mobi will probablly be short lived. The joe public has started surfing internet using a mobile device now without knowing there is a .mobi extension (any .mobi sites up yet?). It seems that the main mobile internet users are young kids and teenages. I still don't know how to access the net by using my phone but my daughter, a primary school student, had a $xxx mobile bill last month on her g3 phone. She only knows extensions such as com/net/ and com.xx/net.xx etc.

[touchring]

The fact that Yahoo.co.jp now has a link to IE7 immediately below the highly sought after text box in Japan, which will lead to vast numbers of people having Yahoo Toolbar by default, means that MSNs hope of getting a toe hold in the Japanese market is seriously jeopardised. The situation for China is worse with yahoo.cn having a big banner right across the top of the page (not viewable with IE7 and perhaps not MACs either)


Interesting, i thought, Yahoo already belongs to Mr Gates.

[Rubber Duck]

Interesting, i thought, Yahoo already belongs to Mr Gates.

Not quite sure where you got that?

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=YHOO

[touchring]

Umm, only matter of time, at the rate the stock price is falling past 2 years. Either Google buys them (which is impossible i assume due to anti-trust), or Gates buys them?

[Rubber Duck]

Umm, only matter of time, at the rate the stock price is falling past 2 years. Either Google buys them (which is impossible i assume due to anti-trust), or Gates buys them?

I think a Yahoo/Microsoft tie up would make a lot of sense. A lot depends on whose stock is dropping the fastest as to who would end up with control!

If there were such a deal you would be looking at a three cornered fight between Yahoo, Google and Baidu, I think.

[Drewbert]

BTW, major corps are into them; I just got a suit threat from a telcom for a mobi I regged (yes, I got about 20) which is confusingly similar to their trademark.




That doesn't mean they're into them. TM owners are REQUIRED to actively protect their TM's by law, or else they are in danger of losing their TM status.

You could reg a TM in .dumbestTLDever and they'd have to hassle you about it.

[Rubber Duck]

That doesn't mean they're into them. TM owners are REQUIRED to actively protect their TM's by law, or else they are in danger of losing their TM status.

You could reg a TM in .dumbestTLDever and they'd have to hassle you about it.

That's correct and under any non-disfunctional TM system that doesn't allow people to go around TMing things like Pilsner, or assuming that they own all Translations into foreign characters; the TM owner has an obligation to point our your infringement, and only at that point forward are you technically in breach of the law.

[markits]

Yeah, look at these prices marked by .mobi owners, ridicules!

I own dcweb.com, regged in 1995. Anyone can buy it for $1500. However, the owner of dcweb.mobi is selling it for $3288 at buydomains.com.
http://www.buydomains.com/find-premium-domains/search-results.jsp?keywords=dcweb.mobi

[Drewbert]

Yeah, look at these prices marked by .mobi owners, ridicules!

I own dcweb.com, regged in 1995. Anyone can buy it for $1500. However, the owner of dcweb.mobi is selling it for $3288 at buydomains.com.
http://www.buydomains.com/find-premium-domains/search-results.jsp?keywords=dcweb.mobi

That's buydomains themselves.

Factor in that they were one of the 3 or so people buying/selling .mobi names at sky high prices at TRAFFICK, when you look at the prices there :)

How do you spell "market manipulation" again?

[touchring]

Amazing, from what i can see, ,mobi prices might have reached a fifth of equivalent dot com prices! Even though traffic and usage is 0.0000001% of the latter. We must examine how dot mobi registrars did it! This is a good case study. :)

[thegenius1]

It is just way to funny for me to handle , i really dont care anyway. If you have good names you will not be worried about what the market thinks when we are checking Revenue from our Beach Chairs anywhere in the world. So let people continue to hype crap and let them crawl for the goods at the end of the day. Anybody looking to drop IDN's for .Mobis PM me your list and attend the .mobi auction at NP on Fri. LMAO

[touchring]

It is just way to funny for me to handle , i really dont care anyway. If you have good names you will not be worried about what the market thinks when we are checking Revenue from our Beach Chairs anywhere in the world. So let people continue to hype crap and let them crawl for the goods at the end of the day. Anybody looking to drop IDN's for .Mobis PM me your list and attend the .mobi auction at NP on Fri. LMAO


Yes, but won't it be good for earn a few grand for Christmas flipping some mobis? Gee, had i known the creators got such a good hyping plan, i would have got a few myself earlier on. But it's too late now.

[Rubber Duck]

Amazing, from what i can see, ,mobi prices might have reached a fifth of equivalent dot com prices! Even though traffic and usage is 0.0000001% of the latter. We must examine how dot mobi registrars did it! This is a good case study. :)

It is one thing getting prices to those levels, but I grant you that was some achievement. It is an entirely different thing keeping them up there. Once Mobi has serious downward momentum, it can only crash and burn.

[bwhhisc]

It is one thing getting prices to those levels, but I grant you that was some achievement. It is an entirely different thing keeping them up there. Once Mobi has serious downward momentum, it can only crash and burn.

Unlike most (country codes) tld, .mobi "potentially" has a huge industry and busine$$ interests behind it.

In my mind, that is why .mobi is "different" and people are willing to pay so much and the hype is there for what "might be".
I do not buy into the thinking that the consumer is going to go there on this one!
In fact this may end up being the .edsel of domains.

[Wot]

Unlike most (country codes) tld, .mobi "potentially" has a huge industry and busine$$ interests behind it.

In my mind, that is why .mobi is "different" and people are willing to pay so much and the hype is there for what "might be".
I do not buy into the thinking that the consumer is going to go there on this one!
In fact this may end up being the .edsel of domains.


Edsel.mobi is available so you could combine failure with failure- if it happens- I have a small hedge (water it twice a week :) )!

[bwhhisc]

Edsel.mobi is available so you could combine failure with failure- if it happens- I have a small hedge (water it twice a week :) )!

Nothing the matter with speculating on a few .mobi. You never know.
Same strategy I have been saying to the ascii guys about IDN.
Spend $50 on half a dozen IDN, you might never know.

[Rubber Duck]

Unlike most (country codes) tld, .mobi "potentially" has a huge industry and busine$$ interests behind it.

In my mind, that is why .mobi is "different" and people are willing to pay so much and the hype is there for what "might be".
I do not buy into the thinking that the consumer is going to go there on this one!
In fact this may end up being the .edsel of domains.

Yes, the vision is there and that is why it is fetching big money. The dream is that .mobi will control mobile browsing just as the PC has controlled PC based browsing.

One of the biggest flaws in this argument is the assumption that the US is at the cutting edge of mobile browsing in the way that it was with the Dot Com. The US lagged way behind several European and Far East Countries on the introduction of the mobile phone. It should not therefore be surprising that they are lagging badly with the the introduction of mobile browsing.

The fact is that mobile browsing started big time in the Far East a couple of years ago. Tell this to this secret sect of top ASCII domainers and all they can do is express incredulity that Chinese phones have 50,000 buttons. They are incapable of seeing that there are other ways around problems. Dot Mobi didn't even occur to the Japanese and Chinese. Only a select elite of ASCII domainers think that it is going to be mission critical. Well they are going to be proven wrong about dot mobi as they are going to be proven wrong about a lot of things.

Frankly, the money that exchanged hands at TRAFFICS was either squandered on worthless hype or it was a set up job from the start. Who knows? Who will ever know for sure?

I am live in Europe, I was born into a later era, but I know what an Edsel was. Unfortunately, 50 years on and Ford is still making the same mistakes! Most of the ASCII mob, don't even know what an Edsel was. Most of them have never seen a Bear market in domains or indeed anything else, and sorry but most of them of uneducated morons.

[bwhhisc]

I am live in Europe, I was born into a later era, but I know what an Edsel was. Unfortunately, 50 years on and Ford is still making the same mistakes! Most of the ASCII mob, don't even know what an Edsel was. Most of them have never seen a Bear market in domains or indeed anything else, and sorry but most of them of uneducated morons.

Guess I am dating myself with that analogy. Just saying that because the domainers and mobile equipment manufacturers are ga-ga over .mobi doesn't mean the general public will accept or want to use it.

Unless mobile equipment will not accept .com or .net etc. it is going to be un uphill battle for .mobi. Maybe the up and coming generation can be "trained" to use .mobi, but .com will seems to be a shoe-in to always be the preferred url.

[Rubber Duck]

Nothing the matter with speculating on a few .mobi. You never know.
Same strategy I have been saying to the ascii guys about IDN.
Spend $50 on half a dozen IDN, you might never know.

Yes, but there retort to IDN would be:

Dot Com is King

which of course is highly irrational because they don't realise that most IDN will be dot Com.

My retort to them, would be:

Dot Com is King

which in regard to Dot Mobi is highly rational, but they will nevertheless reject out of hand.

As I said. Morons!

Guess I am dating myself with that analogy. Just saying that because the domainers and mobile equipment manufacturers are ga-ga over .mobi doesn't mean the general public will accept or want to use it.

Unless mobile equipment will not accept .com or .net etc. it is going to be un uphill battle for .mobi. Maybe the up and coming generation can be "trained" to use .mobi, but .com will seems to be a shoe-in to always be the preferred url.

Just type in m.google.com instead of google.com, then realise that if you do the latter on a mobile device you will get the former, then you will realise how hopeless the dot mobi cause actual is!

[bwhhisc]

Yes, but there retort to IDN would be:
Dot Com is King which of course is highly irrational because they don't realise that most IDN will be dot Com. My retort to them, would be:
Dot Com is King which in regard to Dot Mobi is highly rational, but they will nevertheless reject out of hand. As I said. Morons!

Can't believe domainers will spend $39 on a .mobi, and not $7 or $8 on an IDN (in which you can still get a GOOD term). Some of the .mobi reg names showing up on other forums are pathetic.

These domainers that refuse to believe that people that don't speak English would rather use English domain names, than their own native language domains must have come from the "earth is flat" genetics pool I am convinced.

[markits]

Yes, the vision is there and that is why it is fetching big money. The dream is that .mobi will control mobile browsing just as the PC has controlled PC based browsing.


Such a dream is rather pathetic. As bill mentioned, unless a mobile device will block .com .net etc, .mobi is completely unnecessary.
If people are fascinating about using the hardware name as extension, they need to remember that we never used .pc and .apple etc in the past.

[burnsinternet]

These domainers that refuse to believe that people that don't speak English would rather use English domain names, than their own native language domains must have come from the "earth is flat" genetics pool I am convinced.

That's crazy talk, Bill. Everyone speaks English or wants to speak English!

:p

[touchring]

This is getting dry, enough of jokes. ;)

Let's try a new topic.

[Rubber Duck]

That's crazy talk, Bill. Everyone speaks English or wants to speak English!

:p

You are beginning to sound an awful lot like Rick Schwartz. :p

[burnsinternet]

You are beginning to sound an awful lot like Rick Schwartz. :p

I was going for a Dubya impression, but you get it. OK, no more from me. I'll let it die after I reg Dubya.mobi.

[Rubber Duck]

I was going for a Dubya impression, but you get it. OK, no more from me. I'll let it die after I reg Dubya.mobi.

Well, even he hasn't publicly stated the problem in Iraq could be solved with English lessons!

[bwhhisc]

That's crazy talk, Bill. Everyone speaks English or wants to speak English! :p

Judging from what I see in the public schools, we may all be fluent in Spanish before long :)

[burnsinternet]

Well, even he hasn't publicly stated the problem in Iraq could be solved with English lessons!

He just assumes that because it just makes sense to him. When Iraqis are drinking Coke, eating McDonalds, and attending Christian churches, there will be peace.

Judging from what I see in the public schools, we may all be fluent in Spanish before long :)

Many of us are already. I grew up in the Southwest. You have to know Spanish there.

[bwhhisc]

Many of us are already. I grew up in the Southwest. You have to know Spanish there.

I speak enough Spanish to get around.
We have 35% hispanic population here, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina.
Nice people, good workers, many talents.

[thegenius1]

These domainers that refuse to believe that people that don't speak English would rather use English domain names, than their own native language domains must have come from the "earth is flat" genetics pool I am convinced.


LOL They sure have or got off the short yellow bus with helmets on , but IMO they are not domainers many are just registrants ;)

[bwhhisc]

LOL They sure have or got off the short yellow bus with helmets on , but IMO they are not domainers many are just registrants ;)

I was talking about your "friends" at the other forums that you enjoy riling up!

[burnsinternet]

35% Spanish there? Sounds like Spanish IDN territory to me. cha-ching!

Will any of these fly (adult IDNs not included here)?

andalucía.biz
bebés.biz
catalán.biz
descargarmúsica.biz
diseñográfico.biz
diseñoweb.biz
enespañol.biz
españolas.biz
fotografía.biz
ingeniería.biz
jaén.biz
lencería.biz
losángeles.biz
médico.biz
melodías.biz
señor.biz
señora.biz
señoras.biz
señorita.biz
señoritas.biz
tecnologías.biz
telefoníamóvil.biz
teléfonomóvil.biz
teléfonosmóviles.biz

[Rubber Duck]

I was talking about your "friends" at the other forums that you enjoy riling up!

From what I can gather many of the elite ASCII domainers live in Florida.

They all seem to think everyone speaks English (even in China).

[thegenius1]

I was talking about your "friends" at the other forums that you enjoy riling up!

To bizzy developing to ruffle any feathers these days ! And if i wasn't bizzy Im frankly to the point that i don't feel anybody else needs to be convinced, they will learn on their own if they are capable of doing so.

[Wot]

Can't believe domainers will spend $39 on a .mobi, and not $7 or $8 on an IDN (in which you can still get a GOOD term). Some of the .mobi reg names showing up on other forums are pathetic.

.

I have added 17 .mobi to my portfolio, at the original price I may have baulked at getting that many ,however, my directi reseller allows me to get them at just over $16 for two years (long enough to know if it is a goer or not), a fair reason to add something that may come off and the outlay is not OTT.

[bwhhisc]

I have added 17 .mobi to my portfolio, at the original price I may have baulked at getting that many ,however, my directi reseller allows me to get them at just over $16 for two years (long enough to know if it is a goer or not), a fair reason to add something that may come off and the outlay is not OTT.

$16 for 2 years? That is a bit more palatable. Its $39 for 2 years at domainsite.
Nothing the matter with taking chances on these, spreading your risk over many strategies is probably wise.