IDN.mobi - China Launch is a Huge success - Day 1 Stats

The sunrise launch of the .mobi domain / keyword bundle in China went off as planned Yesterday on 29th October 2009. Everything went extremely smoothly as hoped and predicted.

The dotMobi / Huarui bundle of keywords and Chinese-language .mobi domains were available for regging beginning at 4 a.m. UTC yesterday, October 29, 2009, and will finish at 4 a.m. UTC on November 28, 2009. So people and businesses will have one month to grab what they want.

Immediately after on November 28, general registration will commence, and the keyword / Chinese-language .mobi domain bundle will be available at standard prices.

We asked Vance Hedderel (PR Director Dot Mobi), to detail a little more about ‘keyword bundles’ and idn.mobi and he had this to say:

“Keywords: on a country-by-country basis, words are mapped to a mobile phone number and end users can type a memorable name rather than a number via SMS (Think of ads that say, “Just type ‘deal’ and send to 11222.”). Now, in China (where that service is extremely popular), keyword owners will also have the equivalent .mobi domain available so they can create more dynamic mobile presences.”

The .mobi registration stats can be seen below, approximately 86,000 EXTRA .mobi domains were added to the pool of registered .mobis.

We’ll keep you updated regularly on daily registrations where we can. Dot mobi should cruise past a million registrations once again pretty soon . Many quality .mobi domains are being recaptured daily on the drops too. The natural wasteage will continue of dropped rubbish, of course this applies to all extensions. I will stick to my prediction (many think outlandish) of 5 million + registered .mobi domains inside the next 3 years.

This should be interesting to watch for the next month and beyond. I will closely watch Russia roll out their .mobi domains next. This activity combined with the non stop rollout of developed .mobi sites is making this the the most exciting area of domaining and development to be involved in.  There is no opportunity in domaining and development like this at these entry levels. Full stop. Come back to this post in 3 years or less and all the posts in this section. So what are your predictions of thenumber of .mobi registrations in 2 months time, 12 months time, 2 years time and 3 years time. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below ……………………….

IDN.mobi & keyword bundles launch 29th October in CHINA!

 dotMobi have been  busy preparing for the availability of our new Chinese IDN / keywords bundle next week.

The dotMobi / Huarui bundle of keywords and Chinese-language .mobi domains will be available beginning at 4 a.m. UTC on October 29, 2009, and will finish at 4 a.m. UTC on November 28, 2009. Immediately after on November 28, general registration will commence, and the keyword / Chinese-language .mobi domain bundle will be available at standard prices.

From ‘dotmobi’

“As you might guess, doing business in China is a unique experience, which is why this has absorbed much of the dotMobi team’s time. But one very big plus we have by being an Ireland-based company is help from Enterprise Ireland, who work around the world to develop Irish businesses internationally. Their help was extremely valuable in preparing to bring our first China-specific service to market.

To kick-off the launch activities, there was a formal signing ceremony in Beijing on October 13, 2009. Below is a photo from the event. In front on the left is Yang Zemin, President of the China Academy of Telecommunications Research (CATR), and on the right is Trey Harvin, CEO of dotMobi. Behind them, left to right, are Ambassador Declan Kelleher, Ireland’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, Minister Billy Kelleher T. D., and Hugh Cooney, Chairman of Enterprise Ireland.”

King.info Aims to Change ‘Search’

King.info is a search engine which derives its input from those using it. The results, descriptions for results and at what search terms the results should be found are all added by the very same users as those using the search engine for ordinary search queries. It is also the users of the search who are ranking results for various search terms by casting votes.”There are no ranking algorithms or spiders crawling the web, instead think of this as a hybrid between a wiki and a traditional search engine”, explains king.info founder Jonas Duxen.

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There are no ranking algorithms or spiders crawling the web, instead think of this as a hybrid between a wiki and a traditional search engine

Today search is viewed as a closed, completed product where ordinary users have nothing to contribute more than using search to find whatever they are looking for. The goal with King.info is to change this passive view of search

The only way for information to be truly free is if the tools by which to find information are equally free as the information itself.

King.info is structured as to encourage a dialogue between users building the search. Thus creating a community where userscould tap into the knowledge of each other and gain synergy effects from the collective as a whole. The aim is to make search more of an open contributed project where everyone wanting to take part of building search could be able to do so. “Today search is viewed as a closed, completed product where ordinary users have nothing to contribute more than using search to find whatever they are looking for. The goal with king.info is to change this passive view of search”, says Jonas Duxen. He adds, “The only way for information to be truly free is if the tools by which to find information are equally free as the information itself.”

For further information please visit:
http://www.king.info/
http://www.king.info/search/index.php?title=KING.INFO:About
http://www.king.info/search/index.php?title=User:Jonas_Duxen

Has Rick got a monster sale lined up for ‘Tickets.mobi’?

I visited Tickets.mobi today.

The domain is owned by legendary domainer and entrepreneur Rick Schwartz. Rick paid $60,000 for the domain in 2008. I was of the same opinion then as I am now of the domain. That is that it is one of the best domains possible, and Rick got it at a knock down price. Tickets, are not only a mass traded item online, but are also expensive items that can be shipped for peanuts. You also can startup in this business, (unlike selling expensive items like caravans realistically), or use affiliate schemes and ppc. The fact there are some many shady scammers in this area too, quite sickening really, when you go looking for tickets online and the majority of the public trust google adsense clicks and too often they go to a scam site, as theyre so lucrative. For this reason, I think its best advised people go to the big names , like TicketMaster (who incidentally have a mobile site at Ticketmaster.mobi  mobile ticketmaster, google) online to buy, or in the future generic mega domains that can be developed into beacons of trust and memorability.

The reason, I’m posting this article is because I have noticed some changes over at Rick’s domain. More on that in a bit.

Many know Rick as a BIG .com player, of course he is, but he also invests in .mobi . Here is a great post by Rick a while back on his blog: www.ricksblog.com/my_weblog/2…-mobi-fan.html

[quote]

“Secret .mobi fan spotted and revealed!!

Morning folks!!

In September 2006 .mobi was released. I did not think much of the extension. Just another dotcom wannabe. I laughed as most are still doing and moved on. Then about 3 weeks later another thought occurred to me and I made a quick about face. What did I see? If I tell ya, I’d have to kill ya. But at that moment I saw something that would allow only a very NARROW but hugely successful amount of .mobi’s that could change the world. Besides the obvious company names and trademarks that would be snapped up by their respective companies, I identified less than 10 generic domains that could have great value in the future. The one that led my list was Tickets.mobi. It joined flowers.mobi which was also in the list. Why? Well, let’s look at how these two industries were transformed by the internet, perhaps more than most or even all others. 20 years ago when I would call 1-800-FLOWERS, I bought stuff but would never see it. The Internet changed that. I finally had a visual to go with the dollar amount. That transformed the buying experience for millions. Same with tickets. Before, you would call an 800# and got what you got after cross examining the operator on the other end of the phone line. The Internet gave me the visual and now we can all see the exact seat we get.

So as I sat and identified the industries that could once again be transformed by .mobi, the list was short and narrow. But like other things, IDEAS come about and that short and narrow list is likely to fatten up.

For example, last Tuesday night, Jim McCann said they were working on a system that you will be able to send a “Virtual Bouquet” to someone sitting in a nightclub you might be at. So never discount how things can be transformed by a new idea. Will that happen at flowers.com? No.They have a separate site for that. Today a dotcom. Tomorrow……who knows. Especially when matched up with GPS or as a default extension. Do any of us know how this will unfold? No. But it does not stop folks from putting blinders on and actively rooting against something. Step back folks. Don’t be guilty of the same things others have done to you. Open minds seize opportunities that closed minds will never see.

Now that I got the #1 .mobi I have aimed for since day one, (Tickets.mobi) it will be interesting to see how the old guard domainers learn I am a big .mobi fan. (No surprise for some) I see it as the next best extension to dot com and really nobody needs to agree with me. The more folks disagree, the more I know I am on the right track. So save the naysaying for 5 years not 5 minutes. Then we can discuss why so many of my good friends missed such a winner. They will just say…..”Damn, Rick was right again.”

Here is the reality. In 5 years the domain may be worth between $0 and $60,000. It may also be worth between $60,000 and $60 million. I decided to place my bet on the latter. Place your bets where you may. At the end of the day, I will trust my gut more than any other set of factors. My gut says this will be a $60,000 loss or the single biggest payday of my life. Only had that feeling a few times before. Porno.com, Men.com, Candy.com, Property.com, Tickets.mobi. So then the question becomes: “Why did I buy flowers.mobi for more than tickets.mobi? The answer is pretty simple. Flowers.mobi was the only other .mobi released that was in my top 10 list and since tickets.mobi was not yet out there, I wanted a foot in this door. Porn.mobi was also on the short list as is sex.mobi and some other obvious ones. Domainers will not decide if .mobi hits or not. Businesses across the world will decide. They may see it as a way to capture another market. Another generation. They may see things we don’t see. The thing that will decide the future of .mobi is not domainers. It is businesses across the world and advertising dollars spent.

btw, the FIRST question that Jim McCann asked me was “What did I think about .mobi?” I told him it is too early to tell. The answer won’t reveal itself for 3-5 years. What folks did not know when he was there is that Jim McCann was the LONGEST domainer in the room. He started in 1992!! While others are still struggling with their initial sites and online presence, here we have Mr. Cutting Edge himself and his focus comes down to one word, “Mobile”! Their focus for the future is the mobile, on the go, younger audience. Will that help .mobi? Stay tuned!

Have a GREAT Day
Rick Schwartz”
[/quote]

Okay, back onto  Tickets.mobi

Now for those who know Rick, he is a master salesman of domains. He rarely develops, and when he does, it is invariably bad. He likes the 1994 look. Hope you don’t mind me saying that Rick! lol

Well, actually it’s very rare for Rick to get anything developed at all, not without reason. So I was surprised to see Tickets.mobi developed.

Ok, it’s very lightly developed, bujt the thing that really surprised me was the links to the mobile version of Tickets.com

Now, I don’t know, I may be wrong. This maybe a simple affiliate scheme. I don’t see affiliate codes in the links though and not sure if they do a straight affiliate scheme. I do know they offer ticketing solutions as part of their 9k alexa flagship website.

Maybe Rick is letting them consider purchasing the domain, maybe it really is a a simple little affiliate setup. Only Rick knows. But I can smell Rick onto a deal here. Just remember where you heard it first when Tickets.mobi sells in the near future for mid $xxx,xxx. Just a gut feel.

The mobile version of Tickets.com is mobile.tickets.com and that uses the usablenet.com url so I’m guessing this is an affiliate setup for now.

Here’s a screenshot of the site homepage:

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Here’s a screenshot of one of the links:

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I note the site is developed by mobiManage , and the mobile tickets.com pages are coming off usablenet.com who we have mentioned many times before for their work with major players in developing their mobile and .mobi campaigns and development.

MTV3.mobi - One of Finlands largest TV channels goes ‘ dot mobi’

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The second largest Finnish TV Station has gone ‘.mobi’. You can find their mobile site at mtv3.mobi

Their pc site has an alexa rank of 2539, so is extremely popular: mtv3.fi

We brought you news when the LARGEST TV Station in Finland went .mobi too with .mobi -

yle.mobi

(english version: yle.mobi )

“MTV3 (Finnish: MTV Kolme; Swedish: MTV Tre) is a Finnish commercial television station owned by Bonnier. Until recently it had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels when Finnish Broadcasting Company’s YLE1 took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV (advertisement television), due to the channel getting its revenue from running commercials. Number 3 was added later, when the channel was allocated the third nation-wide television channel and it generally became known as “Channel Three” - Finnish Broadcasting Company’s YLE TV1 and YLE TV2 being the first two - and also to distinguishing it from the later MTV Finland. The channel’s logo is a stylized owl, changed to an owl’s eye after an image renewal in 2003. MTV3 currently has about 500 channels.”

Source: wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV3

http://mtv3.mobi
http://mtv3.fi

xfactor goes mobile with ‘itv.mobi/xfactor’

The xfactor and ITV are promoting their mobile xfactor site using their ITV.mobi mobile site.

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http://www.itv.com/termsandcondition…n/default.html

“Competition opens for entries by WAP via the ITV Mobile portal at itv.mobi/xfactor (the “WAP Portal”) and online on 3 October 2009.”

Chrysler launches 3 .mobi mobile sites

Chrysler in South Africa have just launched 3 .mobi mobile websites. There is almost a full set of the worlds auto manufacturers with .mobi mobile websites

You can read their full press release about the .mobi sites here: http://www.chryslergroup.co.za/news.asp?newsID=977

Chrysler South Africa recently went live with their 2nd generation websites for the mobile phone user. The sites offer a brief model overview for each brand including an image gallery, with high quality images.

In addition, a dealer locator, showing the full Southern African network, allows the user to instantly call a dealership without having to retype the number on the cellphone.

Another unique feature enables the user to visit the Dodge mobile site and make a test-drive booking to participate in the Discover Dodge competition that is currently under way, without having to visit the website.

Chrysler South Africa’s Mobi-sites can be found at the following addresses:

chryslersa.mobi
jeepsa.mobi
dodgesa.mobi

Ameren.com goes mobile with Ameren.mobi

Ameren companies in Illinois and Missouri are among the first electric utility companies in the nation to offer Mobile Power Outage Information, or “ameren.mobi,” to their 2.4 million electric customers in Illinois and Missouri. Today’s launch kicks off National Emergency Preparedness Month for Ameren.

ameren.mobi can be an important part of any preparedness plan because this new service offers customers the comfort of being able to report a power outage from a mobile device and provides statistics organized by county and ZIP code to users of BlackBerries, Palm Pilots, iPhones and other mobile devices.

“Our customers are increasingly dependent on mobile devices for Internet access,” says Ameren Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas R. Voss. “This technology addresses that need, while acknowledging that in an extended outage, customers are often away from home when the lights come back on. Thanks to ameren.mobi, they can check their outage status from wherever they might be.”

Visitors to www.ameren.mobi also may check the status of power outages at specific locations simply by entering the telephone number associated with the location’s account. ameren.mobi expands on the company’s groundbreaking “Storm Center” Web site offerings, on www.ameren.com, which include maps that display power outage locations in near-real time, plus county and ZIP code outage data.

“Another audience for this device is members of the news media, who are so important to our outage communications efforts following major storms,” added Voss. “Now field reporters can easily access outage data from cell phones and blackberries.”

Like the Outage Map found on www.ameren.com, ameren.mobi was developed in-house by Ameren employees. Voss says this approach held down costs, while insuring that the people closest to the data were those involved in determining how best to present it to users.

Since the launch of outage maps on Ameren.com in 2005, the company has steadily increased its Web site offerings to provide customers more and more information, including the ability to obtain the customer-specific outage information that is also now available through ameren.mobi

National Preparedness Month is sponsored each September by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Ready campaign to increase public awareness of emergency preparedness.

With assets of approximately $23 billion, Ameren companies serve 2.4 million electric customers and one million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.

The Ameren Illinois Utilities (AmerenCIPS, AmerenCILCO and AmerenIP) serve 1.2 million electric and more than 840,000 natural gas customers in a 43,700-square-mile area of Illinois.

With 1.2 million customers, AmerenUE is Missouri’s largest electric company and third largest provider of natural gas.

SOURCE: Ameren companies
Web site: http://www.ameren.com//

ameren.mobi

Here is their promotional video for the new  mobile ameren

AA New Zealand launches ‘aatravel.mobi’

AA Travel New Zealand  has launched their mobile site at aatravel.mobi/

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Please see screenshot below:

Newham Council (London) Launch - ‘MyNewham.mobi’

I came across a beautiful mobile site today, actually on my laptop. The site is run by Newham Council in London.Bit more about Newham www.newham.gov.uk/Jobs/Diversity

Population approx 250,000 people.

I have to say it’s one of the best mobile sites I have ever seen, so clean, so fast, so well layed out, so full of information.

Here’s one screenshot of the hompeage:

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When you go into the directory, there is even more layers of information. Screenshot:

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This is a very forward thinking council, they actually own ‘Newham.com‘ . Far better than some long winded hyphenated .gov.uk or .ac.uk etc

The site has been up a year and is such a credit to them. See their promotion: www.newham.com/page/community/newham_goes_mobile

Quote:

The London Borough of Newham, in partnership with Transport for London, has unveiled a new service for its residents, visitors and businesses. They can now access all the council services they need, from being able to find jobs, to reporting graffiti, on their mobiles, through one simple mobile website.

MyNewham also enables communities to build their own networks, with Schools, voluntary organisations, and sports clubs all now being able to communicate with their own members.

The new site can be accessed by texting the word Newham to 65101, by typing mynewham.mobi directly into the telephone’s internet browser or by typing in your mobile number at this link: mynewham.mobi - users then receive a text message back with a link to the service and instructions to follow.

Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, said: “This pioneering service provides a great opportunity to supply information in a personalised and convenient way. There’s no excuse to not know what’s happening in the borough.”

“We believe this is a ground breaking approach for delivering a coherent mobile strategy for communicating with its citizens” said Ian Tomson-Smith of SNT Mobile, who project managed the delivery of the service. “By combining core council services with best of breed third party mobile service providers, we have delivered not only a useful service for citizens, but one they will continue to use. This provides a platform, upon which local authorities can reach out and deliver multiple mobile services and a model for authorities in London and throughout the UK in the future.”Interestingly the .co.uk of ‘mynewham’ is parked/redirected and the mynewham.com is free to reg. They skipped over that and chose .mobi for their mobile site. Makes sense really. Power of .mobi branding.

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