Why mobi domains are a waste of time
In case you haven’t been told there is a “new” domain name extension out there called .mobi for “mobile”. I put new in parentheses because it has been available for use since 2006 and has yet to catch on. Today, I and Mark Barrera noticed an article in a magazine extolling the virutes of .mobi domains and we both met it with a yawn, here’s why.
The entire point of a .mobi domain was for what would amount to “sister sites” for companies to have a “mobile version” of their websites. Sites that would be optimized in size, shape, form and function to appear properly on mobile phones and other devices. The concept was developed because many sites look really jacked up on early smart phones like my Blackberry that I refuse to upgrade, for instance. Then last year something happened that made this all pointless. One word - iPhone!
If you have used an iPhone you know that the internet on the iPhone looks, acts and is just about as close to the regular PC/Mac based internet as a phone could ever be. With the iPhone, no one needs a “mobile” only website. They only need a regular website which most companies already have. The iPhone effectively kills the entire purpose of the .mobi domain. “Wait”, I hear you saying at the screen in front of you, “not everyone has an iPhone or will” you continue. Well, I agree but it simply does not matter. You see the iPhone took on such dominance that every other phone maker is out now building their own truly smart phones and phones are going to get smarter, not dumber.
It will be a year or two at the most when 90% of new phones (even cheap or “free” ones) have excellent browsing capabilities and can access the web with no big issues that require a “special” domain. So what does that mean to you? Simple, do not waste company resources, money and/or time making special websites just for mobile users to access. Instead focus on local search marketing (local SEO)because that is the growth sector that will be most affected by the growth in mobile internet users.
Mobile users are often deep into the need/buying phase of things when they search, they are looking for something now and something close to them. As their phones will soon see the same internet as their PCs, so marketers should address their need. The need is not special websites, it is finding your website when they are in your area. The key to that is local search marketing so my advice is expend resources on developing that area and don’t worry about .mobi or developing websites specifically for the mobile user.
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February 14th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
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February 14th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
If they’re such a waste of time, then why are .mobi sites listed on Apple’s Webapps Site. Why are .mobi sites being shown in iPhone commercials?
The only waste of time is this article, written by someone who doesn’t know what the hell they’re talking about.
February 14th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
James,
Thank you for your opinion but having something listed or advertised does not make it useful, valid or in any way provide confidence that it will continue to be around and used for very long.
Beta Disks were advertised, listed, pushed, etc. They went the way of the dodo! .Mobi is a buzz word for the moment but in your response you are simply ignoring the entire point of the article and of the .mobi domain in the first place.
.Mobi is about creating sites for mobile devices to be “friendly” to them. The iPhone is the first step in making mobile devices that don’t have problems viewing websites as they are. This will then simply relegate .mobi to the same bin as .cc or .us or .whatever. Sure you can use it, sure you can build content for it but visitors won’t give a darn what the domain extension is.
These new smart devices treat the internet like a PC in time .mobi will make about as much sense as a .percomp extension would.
February 14th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
@James - First of all. I have only seen 1 .mobi site on the iPhone commercials and it was the Zagat.mobi site. To get to this site, an iPhone user would navigate to Zagat.com. Zagat has a device redirect in place that auto-detects the type of device you are using and if you are on a cell phone they send you to the .mobi domain which is a thinned down version of the site for mobile devices.
I am an iPhone user and honestly wish that Zagat WOULDN’T force me to view this limited site. This is the reason that I use an iPhone - to use the Internet in all of its intended beauty and functionality, not to get a leaner site that has limited functionality.
I think what Jack is intending to get across with this post is that these limited functionality mobile sites will soon be a thing of the past as phones evolve to show websites just as you would see them in your regular web browser.
The other thing is that consumers are so used to going to a site by adding .com to the end of the address. If you try to make them start using a different extension (.mobi) to get to a site, you are adding to confusion. Stick to what the consumers are used to doing and keep your site on a .com.
If you do decide you need a site catered to a mobile site (which is the case for many large brands), you should probably employ a device redirect on your .com site that sends them to a mobile subdomain (such as iphone.facebook.com). Adding .mobi to the things a consumer must remember to find a website seems like it will only dilute your branding. I mean - you are advertising your site everywhere as a .com so why shouldn’t mobile users access it the same way?
March 15th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Not catching on? That does not seem like a very fact-filled and objective statement.
FYI, below are some developed .mobi sites from well-known companies. In 1987, a year and a half after .com was launched, there were barely any websites. In fact, that was true for the first 5 years of .com. So it could be argued that .mobi is actually doing quite well for such a young domain extension (one and a half years old), considering the developed sites below. Furthermore, with regards to the iPhone, it’s all about screen size, and a regular .com site will never be able to compete with a .mobi site designed specifically for the screen size and functionalities of the iPhone and the needs of a user on the go. Lastly, device auto-detection and redirection has been round for years, yet it’s still rarely used by .com’s, and such an automated script rarely allows users to choose which version of the site, full or mobile, to use while on the go (e.g. while on an iPhone) as it forces them to see a version of a site based on their device.
Most importantly, few things have done more to spark the development of the mobile web than .mobi.
Here are just a few developed .mobi’s:
>>Banking
BofA.mobi (Bank of America)
Deutsche-Bank.mobi
Wachovia.mobi
Barclays.mobi
>>Financial Services
Fidelity.mobi
Ing.mobi
AXA.mobi
>>Insurance
StateFarm.mobi
>>Automotive
Ferrari.mobi
BMW.mobi
Rolls-Royce.mobi
FordCA.mobi (Ford Canada)
JaguarXF.mobi
Opel.mobi
>>Travel
Priceline.mobi
>>Hotels
Marriott.mobi
>>Airlines
Iberia.mobi
SAS.mobi
>>Transportation
Amtrak.mobi
AAA.mobi (American Automobile Association)
Thalys.mobi
>>Sports
ESPN.mobi
NBA.mobi
WNBA.mobi
UFC.mobi
>>Magazines
Time.mobi (Time Magazine)
BusinessWeek.mobi
CNNMoney.mobi
>>Beverages
Smirnoff.mobi
>>TV
Fox.mobi
NGC.mobi (National Geographic Channel)
>>Internet
MSN.mobi
>>Domains
Sedo.mobi / SedoPro.mobi
GoDaddy.mobi / TDNAM.mobi
Netsol.mobi (Network Solutions)
>>Technology
Cisco.mobi
TexasInstruments.mobi
>>News
FoxNews.mobi
AlJazeera.mobi
>>Newspapers
TheSun.mobi
>>Guides
Zagat.mobi
>>Mobile Operators
T-Mobile.mobi
Three.mobi
Vodafone.mobi
TIM.mobi
Orange.mobi
ChinaMobile.mobi
>>Mobile Manufacturers
Nokia.mobi
SonyEricsson.mobi
>>Telecommunications
Ericsson.mobi
SamsungMobile.mobi
GSMWorld.mobi (GSMA)
3Skype.mobi
>>Weather
Weather.mobi (The Weather Channel)
>>Clothing
Polo.mobi
BenettonPress.mobi (United Colors of Benetton)
>>Airports
Schiphol.mobi (Amsterdam)
>>NGO’s
WWF.mobi (World Wildlife Fund)
>>Cities, States & Countries (Official Sites)
Barcelona.mobi
Frankfurt.mobi
Dublin.mobi
Helsinki.mobi
InformNY.mobi (New York State Department of Transportation)