The company working to establish a mobile-exclusive Internet domain is hoping to lure customers by extending its initial registration period.
DotMobi-also known as mTLD, or mobile Top Level Domain Ltd.-said it will extend the trademark sunrise registration by a month, allowing companies to lay claim to .mobi URLs until Sept. 22. The firm said the extra time will allow it to spread the .mobi gospel, encouraging companies to establish distinct sites for mobile-friendly Internet destinations.
Supporters of .mobi tout the domain as a way for customers to identify sites that have been built exclusively for wireless use. Such a standard is expected to minimize sluggish download times, poorly formatted content and other headaches that can occur when wireless surfers try to access sites designed for PC users, proponents claim.
And those disappointing user experiences are resulting in lackluster uptake among mobile-phone users, according to Alexa Raad, dotMobi’s vice president of marketing and business development.
“Ask your neighbor, friend or relative,” Raad urged on the company’s blog last month. “Chances are he has tried (accessing the wireless Web) once, wasn’t impressed … and has not gone back since-not to that site or any other site.”
DotMobi opened its registration to much fanfare several weeks ago. The company issued a press release touting new, big-brand customers, including ESPN, Target Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Visa International-an impressive addition to existing owners of .mobi sites including Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and Verizon Wireless.
But critics claim the extension, which the company is slated to officially announce next week, is indicative of a lack of demand for mobile-only URLs. While many well-heeled companies may be hedging their bets by securing a .mobi domain, most firms are focused on making their traditional Internet destinations more mobile-friendly.
“I expect there has not been the avalanche of applications for .mobi domains,” said Anil Malhotra, vice president of Bango Inc., which facilitates direct-to-consumer efforts for media companies and other wireless content providers. “After .tv and other new domain spaces, brand owners are now wary of the real value of new [top level domains].”
And Malhotra takes issue with Raad’s claim that a poor user experience has soured would-be wireless Web surfers.
“The ability to get to the sites you want to reach from a phone is not held back by user apprehension,” he said, “it’s a problem of restriction-by-design, either at phone or network level. Break these chains and we will see a massive growth in Web access from mobile users.”
Malhotra has called .mobi “unnecessary,” citing recent efforts from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to establish guidelines for developers building mobile-friendly Web sites. Indeed, wireless Web browsers from developers including Novarra Inc., Opera Software ASA and others offer transcoding technology that reformats traditional Web sites for mobile phones. Some Internet portals feature similar technology. And many sites can determine what kind of a device a Web surfer is using and deliver content accordingly across platforms.
Of course, surfing the Internet on your phone can still be a nightmare. Even the best transcoding technology isn’t perfect, and far too many popular sites-particularly those with flashy graphics and other data-heavy bells and whistles-are simply unusable on a mass-market handset.
DotMobi became a member of the W3C to address such concerns. The company said it will use many of the group’s best practices, requiring customers to adhere to the guidelines to ensure sites are optimized for mobile devices.
The W3C standards aren’t solely for .mobi sites, though, and groups including the Mobile Marketing Association have also established guidelines for content providers and other mobile Internet companies. And those using .mobi domains will have to let consumers know where to direct their browsers when trying to access the Web on their phones.
Such efforts may be far more challenging than simply creating sites that can easily be used on a mobile phone, Malhotra said.
“You have to spend time and effort telling users what .mobi is all about,” he said. “Since with just a bit of effort your mobile site can be easily accessed from a mobile device as a dot-com, why bother?”
