.mobi

.mobi

.mobi
Introduced	2005
TLD type	Sponsored top-level domain
Status	Approved
Registry	Mobi JV (Mobi TLD)
Sponsor	Nokia / Vodafone / Microsoft / Afilias
Intended use	Sites intended for mobile device use
Actual use	Began to be available for use in 2006
Registration restrictions	Adherence to mobile-compatibility style guidelines can be enforced by challenge process
Structure	Direct second-level registrations are allowed; selected generic second level domains, such as weather and music, are reserved for distribution in an equitable manner which may include auction
Documents	ICANN New sTLD RFP Application
Dispute policies	UDRP
Registry website	MTLD

.mobi (also known as DotMobi) is a top-level domain approved by ICANN and managed by the mTLD global registry dedicated to delivering the Internet to mobile devices via the Mobile Web. It is financially backed by Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Ericsson, Vodafone, GSM Association, Hutchison, Orascom Telecom, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefónica Móviles, and Telecom Italia Mobile.

Operation of .mobi

DotMobi domain names were made available for public registration on September 26, 2006. Although introduced quite recently, .mobi has already made headlines with several 6-figure domain sales, including Flowers.mobi for $200,000, Sportsbook.mobi for $129,800, and Fun.mobi for $100,000, possibly indicating the confidence developers have in this young extension. It has also had its share of criticism due to allegedly breaking the principles of device independence. Some argue that providing content tailored to particular devices can and should be done by other means than a specific TLD, such as using hostnames within an existing domain, content negotiation through the HTTP protocol, cascading style sheets or other forms of adaptation.

Additionally, some have pointed out that "mobi" is an unfortunate choice for mobile phone text entry interfaces, requiring ten keystrokes in many common setups, compared to seven for "com", or what could have only been three if the more apt "wap" was used. However, there is a possibility that mobile phone manufacturers will default their mobile internet browsers to .mobi or that predictive-text input features will reduce this to one keystroke, either of which would effectively eliminate this issue.

Responding to criticism, .mobi engaged with the W3C Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) to help formulate the MWI Best Practices for mobile content. The practices outlined a number of ways to achieve good user experiences on mobile Web-enabled devices, and recognized several methods of implementing these practices.

mTLD has released a free testing tool called the MobiReady Report to analyze the mobile readiness of website. It does a free page analysis and gives a Mobi Ready score. This report tests the mobile-readiness of the site using DotMobi's recommended best practices.

Free authoring tools can be utilized to create mobi-compatible sites. mobi Site Galore is a free browser based tool that guarantees a fully standards compliant mobile website.

There are technical solutions that provide this today: compressing/downsampling proxy servers and microbrowsers, like Opera Mobile and Opera Mini which can tailor any website to small display (using Small Screen Rendering technique). However, these programs must still download an entire site which, if not optimized for mobile phones, can be time-consuming and expensive to download.

There are also specialized content adaptation solutions, that typically operate on a server, where they employ specialized adaptation techniques to provide optimized representations of Web sites to mobile devices regardless of what browser they use. However, .mobi eliminates the intermediary step of having to adapt content for mobile phone as the sites are specifically designed for viewing on a mobile phone.

The W3C is also developing new authoring languages, such as DIAL the Device Independent Authoring Language, which aid authors in creating Web sites that can be used on the huge variety of mobile devices available today. Some adaptation solutions already support the use of DIAL and similar languages in creating sites that can be used with .mobi domain names.

The .mobi organization does not itself mandate any particular technology, but does require that .mobi sites produce user experiences consistent with their guidelines.

Advantages of .mobi

Since 100% of .mobi sites must be optimized for viewing on a mobile phone, the main advantage of .mobi, from the users' perspective, is that they are guaranteed a site optimized for their smaller screens. Although a .com or any other extension can be optimized for mobile phones, in practice, only a fraction of them are, thus necessitating content adaptation solutions.

Equitable Allocation of Premium Names

mTLD has compiled a list of approximately 5,700 commonly used words and phrases that have been set aside for equitable allocation other than in the traditional first, come, first-served basis. This is to 1) create a more level playing field in the allocation of these names, 2) increase the likelihood that these domain names will more promptly provide the mobile community with new features and services, and 3) preserve the stability and security of registry operations. mTLD will be allocating these premium names via auction and Request for Proposal (RFP) processes on a quarterly basis through 2008. The process was approved by ICANN with input from mTLD's Policy Advisory Board and WIPO. Disputes that arise over .mobi domain names can be filed and administered by the National Arbitration Forum. Disputes are decided by one of 147 experts on the National Arbitration Forum's intellectual property panel.

Examples of .mobi sites

Several large and well-known companies have created .mobi versions of their sites specifically for mobile phones. These include cnnmoney.mobi, businessweek.mobi, bmw.mobi, nba.mobi, msn.mobi, and banking.mobi. More examples can be viewed on mTLD's showcase.

External links

• dotMobi
• dotMobi emulator
• IANA Whois record for .mobi
• mobiWays dotmobi