City Names Allocation Process

[vikrantjain22]

APPLICATIONS (http://whois.mtld.mobi/files/CityNamesApplication.pdf) WILL BE RECEIVED FROM 20TH AUGUST, 2007 ONWARDS WITH NO CLOSING DATE. PLEASE READ THE FULL APPLICATION DOCUMENT BEFORE SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL.

http://whois.mtld.mobi/domain/reserved

[MobiMaven]

APPLICATIONS (http://whois.mtld.mobi/files/CityNamesApplication.pdf) WILL BE RECEIVED FROM 20TH AUGUST, 2007 ONWARDS WITH NO CLOSING DATE. PLEASE READ THE FULL APPLICATION DOCUMENT BEFORE SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL.

http://whois.mtld.mobi/domain/reserved

Nice find, certainly good news for geos in general. :D The application has a link to a list of available city names being offered, but the link isn't working. Has anyone seen this list?

[bricio]

thanks for the information
here is the link to the names

http://whois.mtld.mobi/files/dotMobiListOfAvailableCity%20NamesGovtAllocProcess %20-%2021%20June%202007.pdf (http://whois.mtld.mobi/files/dotMobiListOfAvailableCity%20NamesGovtAllocProcess %20-%2021%20June%202007.pdf)

[Andres Kello]

APPLICATIONS (http://whois.mtld.mobi/files/CityNamesApplication.pdf) WILL BE RECEIVED FROM 20TH AUGUST, 2007 ONWARDS WITH NO CLOSING DATE. PLEASE READ THE FULL APPLICATION DOCUMENT BEFORE SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL.

http://whois.mtld.mobi/domain/reservedHey Deepak, could you please add this date to our Calendar so we all see the reminder? Thanks!

[MobiMaven]

thanks for the information
here is the link to the names

http://whois.mtld.mobi/files/dotMobiListOfAvailableCity%20NamesGovtAllocProcess %20-%2021%20June%202007.pdf

Thanks for the link. vegas.mobi and lasvegas.mobi should be interesting. You going to apply for rio.mobi??

[Scandiman]

Certainly an advantage here for those with some Govt connections.

[MobiMaven]

I have l-a.mobi, n-y.mobi and s-f.mobi. I have been thinking about developing them as geos, and I wonder how losangeles.mobi, newyorkcity.mobi, nyc.mobi and sanfrancisco.mobi might affect this. Obviously the more sites that are out there, the more the pie gets split up, but I also might be able to ride their coattails a bit. IMHO nyc.mobi is better than n-y.mobi, but the other two cities are long type-ins. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Scandiman]

I have l-a.mobi, n-y.mobi and s-f.mobi. I have been thinking about developing them as geos, and I wonder how losangeles.mobi, newyorkcity.mobi, nyc.mobi and sanfrancisco.mobi might affect this. Obviously the more sites that are out there, the more the pie gets split up, but I also might be able to ride their coattails a bit. IMHO nyc.mobi is better than n-y.mobi, but the other two cities are long type-ins. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
I'm uncertain personally in regards to how well L-L domains will be accepted but one trap to not fall into is thinking this is a zero sum game. The mobile internet is a growing space and the competition for traffic to .mobi sites will help to further the tld. As the owner of ATL.mobi (for Atlanta) and SAC.mobi (for Sacramento), I knew someday that the reserved city names will someday show up. I'm just fine with that because it simply leads to more .mobi content out there and can provide me a point of differentiation from the "official" sites. Since these sites need to be essentially Govt built, sponsored or endorsed, there will be a certain political correctness that comes along with that. I can do things on my sites that they can't and I welcome their efforts to further the .mobi brand. As far as your L-L goes, all I can suggest is giving it a try. You have 3 excellent examples to choose from.

[MobiMaven]

I'm uncertain personally in regards to how well L-L domains will be accepted but one trap to not fall into is thinking this is a zero sum game. The mobile internet is a growing space and the competition for traffic to .mobi sites will help to further the tld. As the owner of ATL.mobi (for Atlanta) and SAC.mobi (for Sacramento), I knew someday that the reserved city names will someday show up. I'm just fine with that because it simply leads to more .mobi content out there and can provide me a point of differentiation from the "official" sites. Since these sites need to be essentially Govt built, sponsored or endorsed, there will be a certain political correctness that comes along with that. I can do things on my sites that they can't and I welcome their efforts to further the .mobi brand. As far as your L-L goes, all I can suggest is giving it a try. You have 3 excellent examples to choose from.

Thanks--good points, especially about how the government ownership might be a good way to differentiate.

MM

[Tim]

Without competition the marketplace is stagnant.

I welcome this not only for the obvious shot in the arm for all .mobi, but also for the list of new end users and original content.

Of course, I own some geo, so that's exciting too.

[cramer]

On the one hand, this may be a hugely significant move for mobi...because it creates the start of the release of a lot of reserved names. Much criticism has been made of mobi because of the large number of reserved names, and before us is the detail of the release of a large group of those...albeit they are a related group (city names) which have limitations related to the governments of those cities. With the generic names that have been auctioned up to now, because they were generics...I believe that if you paid the price at auction, you were under no obligations as to your use of them (example pizza). With the RFP names that are in limbo, I recall there was a process to convince dot mobi that you would be making best use of the name in development....but you didnt have to have the permission of some government to participate.....here you do.
Normally part of the incentive of buying a domain, and developing it....is the potential upside. In the case of these city names, I doubt that any city is going to sign off their rights and interests in a name to an outside party. They may partner, of course, and maybe you could work a deal with a jurisdiction where....in exchange for development, they will agree to a deal to share any revenue. But from my experience dealing with local governments big and small....this might not be a desirable undertaking. Dealing with my local city government, which is considered to be well run and affluent, is far from a picnic.
The fact that there is no deadline, it is open ended, indicates that dot mobi realizes this process might take a VERY long time.
There are probably some sort of opportunities here for some domainers and/or developers....but my inclination is that I would probably prefer to invest my time and money into developing my own geo domains....rather then one in which I am any sort of a partner with a government. In the case of MY domain(s), I can develop the way I am inclined to, without anyone's permission, and I always have the ability to sell the domain...developed or not...to the highest bidder, and I get all the proceeds. If I were to convince my local government to let me develop our city mobi, they certainly wont ever let me sell it... So my upside is limited to my share of whatever revenue we might eek out of it over time. That is a far cry different then the usual proposition we are faced with when investing in domains.
So, maybe someone will have some great ideas of how to capitalize on this better then I am thinking....but one aspect of it is that I think this program does illuminate some important things for us:
We figured that these names would not be released in the marketplace thru auction or RFP, but this confirms that.
This very well may make the geo domains that are not part of this program more valuable....they dont have any of these limitations. They can appreciate in value, and we owners can be rewarded.
You can bet that a percentage of these city 'implementations' are not going to be well executed. I mean, come on!!....governments are involved. In some cases, this should create opportunities for pure private industry (we domainers/developers) to do a better job in some city mobi developments of our own, and benefit from it.

[Gerry]

My personal take is if you are first, market, promote, and brand, then you are in the game first and in first place.

Notice, there is no closing date. How many years will it be before these names are released and rewarded?

To whom, chamber of commerce? And I doubt that many will know what to do with it.

My take is develop and promote (easy for me to say, I don't develop...yet). Like all the reserved and generic premium and city names, how many years is it going to be?

If you have the development skills, I say get the sites out there.

As for the L-L, I think they will do wonderful in branding. I think there is great opportunity there. Who can not know that N-Y is New York and T-N is Tennessee?

No point in waiting to ride the coat tails of others when they know nothing about it (except the giants already mentioned).

[webecri]

I think this is very good news.

Especially the way mTLD "wants" the marketing and promotion of the .mobi website. They even want that the .mobi website will be announced on "other TLD websites" of the applicant!!!

Read more on www.dotmobiz.com (http://www.dotmobiz.com)

[MobiMaven]

The requirement that local government has to be involved could produce some interesting results...can you imagine tryting to sell Fidel on havana.mobi? :hmmmm2: :vollkommenauf: :banghead:

PS--love the new emoticons!!!!!

[nrmillions]

Great news!! A ton of top cities on there such as Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Seoul, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York City, Moscow, Minneapolis, etc. This is a great idea for mTLD to do this. Now they wont end up with domainers as parked pages and these major cities can start to promote them. That would bring awareness of mobi to millions. Chicago, nyc, and LA have over 40 million people just in those 3 cities metropolitan areas.

[Binaryman]

Yes but first they have to get those cities to purchase them.

[Scandiman]

Yes but first they have to get those city's to purchase them.From my understanding no one can purchase them. It is best descried as a 2 year lease and the tenant needs to be an official govt agency or officially appointed representative of that local govt. The application fee isn't steep but they do require a marketing budget of a few thousand euros/year which I think is excellent.

[fathomjh]

Good find. I think city related mobi names will be a big hit. Those that were lucky enough to nab some in landrush shoud have big payoffs. All in all, city mobi's should bring more "light" to the extension and both directly and indirectly inform the general public.

[Binaryman]

From my understanding no one can purchase them. It is best descried as a 2 year lease and the tenant needs to be an official govt agency or officially appointed representative of that local govt. The application fee isn't steep but they do require a marketing budget of a few thousand euros/year which I think is excellent.

OK still makes no difference ..purchase, hire, lease, rent ..whatever. You still have to generate enough interest and be able to convince these cities of the benefits of going for ,mobi. And that's the problem. WHAT are the benefits? Not until .Mobi is a household word will there be benefits. I sincerely hope that the Mtld knows excactly how to make a roaring success of .mobi as they are up against more and more competition every day and as the competition grows stronger(Iphone) and conquers the mobile market and is becoming more and more popular and evolutionizes day by day, so the possibilities and future of .mobi becomes less and less certain and the attractiveness and benefits of .mobi dont seem quite as exciting anymore.
This article certainly did not boost my confidence levels either. Especially the piece about Microsoft.
Quote"Microsoft has also expressed its disproval of the mobile Web initiative and .mobi, saying that the burden should be on software makers, not Web developers."Unquote. Now why the hell is Microsoft which is a .Mobi backer making a U-Turn on .Mobi?
http://www.betanews.com/article/iPhone_and_the_Death_of_the_Mobile_Web/1183748128

[Scandiman]

OK still makes no difference ..purchase, hire, lease, rent ..whatever. You still have to generate enough interest and be able to convince these cities of the benefits of going for ,mobi. And that's the problem. WHAT are the benefits? Not until .Mobi is a household word will there be benefits. I sincerely hope that the Mtld knows excactly how to make a roaring success of .mobi as they are up against more and more competition every day and as the competition grows stronger(Iphone) and conquers the mobile market and is becoming more and more popular and evolutionizes day by day, so the possibilities and future of .mobi becomes less and less certain and the attractiveness and benefits of .mobi dont seem quite as exciting anymore.
This article certainly did not boost my confidence levels either. Especially the piece about Microsoft.
Quote"Microsoft has also expressed its disproval of the mobile Web initiative and .mobi, saying that the burden should be on software makers, not Web developers."Unquote. Now why the hell is Microsoft which is a .Mobi backer making a U-Turn on .Mobi?
http://www.betanews.com/article/iPhone_and_the_Death_of_the_Mobile_Web/1183748128

Binary, I always appreciate your sleuthing. You're an asset to this community.

I have a totally different perspective on the iPhone. I don't see it as competition at all, but rather a great catalyst towards consumer adoption of the concept of mobile internet use. In the article you linked, they mentioned the previous failure to get the mobile internet going but unfortunately they didn't expand on that issue. IMO, the failure has nothing to do with .mobi or current mobile web standards and has mostly to do with expensive data plans, WAP coding that couldn't load in a PC browser and walled garden content. The iPhone's solution does work but is far from ideal. Now that it is out, there are significant initiatives to provide content specifically for iPhones. That's mobile content under a different name and is desirable because viewing big screened, data heavy content on a small screen via a slower connection is not a fun experience even though it is possible. .Mobi developers need to embrace this emerging iPhone consumer heavy market. In spite of Apple's marketing spin they are ushering in the coming wave of consumer mobile internet users. .mobi can have a place in this emerging market. It's not just up to mTLD, but all of us to build good sites and get the word out.

[ezinaz]

Quote"Microsoft has also expressed its disproval of the mobile Web initiative and .mobi, saying that the burden should be on software makers, not Web developers."Unquote. Now why the hell is Microsoft which is a .Mobi backer making a U-Turn on .Mobi?
http://www.betanews.com/article/iPhone_and_the_Death_of_the_Mobile_Web/1183748128

It would be nice had the author referenced where Microsoft has stated this. I've never personally seen this statement from Microsoft.

And if this is the case, that the burden should be on software makers as the author states, than why are so many Web developers redirecting OR providing alternate links for mobile content? If they didn't have to worry about what device the user is on, than there would be no need for those actions, all users should just go to the .com and not worry about the m-dots of the world.

So what it is going to be...auto-sensing and reformatting of the display (by the web developers) ... OR ... is it that the browser should be able to display "regular" web pages on any device (by the software makers). It sounds like THEY can't make up there minds which way THEY want to go. Even those who disagree with the .mobi technology can't agree how they want to solve the mobile browsing experience. Some companies even want their browsers to "re-format" and chop down a full web page for a smaller screen. I don't anticipate that these solutions provide a very happy web experience.

The truth is there are alot of THEYs out there with different agendas, and the one who provides the best mobile browsing experience to the customer is going to win out. .mobi is just one of the solutions and at this point has just as good of a chance as anyone.

I'd imagine it would depend on who you talked to at Microsoft what answer you got.

[Binaryman]

Quote"The application fee isn't steep but they do require a marketing budget of a few thousand euros/year which I think is excellent."Unquote

That's not steep? Maybe for the really big top cities it's not. But why would any city want to fork out that kind of money to LEASE their city name and still be held to account by all types of requirements such as submitting proposals, budget $,$$$'s for development and marketing/promotions and paying a minimum cost of $2,000 euro per annum?
Look I sincerely want .Mobi to succeed as I have a personal stake in it too but I dont know if this is the way for them to go. Why not give these city names away to these cities in question for FREE as long as they are prepared to fulfill the other requirements set by Mtld? By FREE I mean Mtld pays the first years registration free and thereafter the city just pays the regular annual registration fee like everyone else. That way the deal becomes much more attractive to the cities and it's a great way for .Mobi to get the ball rolling. In fact .Mobi has made so much money already I reckon they could even pay for the rest of the stuff they want these cities to comply to as well.
Here are the requirements as set by .Mobi Mtld.

A public launch event to local press for the city name web-site.(Mtld should foot the bill or share the cost)

A Press Release to issue in liaison with mTLD promoting the city name web-site. (Mtld should pay for this
or share the cost)

Local marketing efforts for the city name web-site at a minimum cost of 2,000 euro per annum. ( Is that every year for as long as the registration is live? or is it for the first year only? That's a lot of money you know..2,000Euro Per Annum. Will these cities feel it's worth coughing up? That in effect would mean that these cities are being made to pay Euro 2,000 per year for leasing fees. And then they must obviously still pay their regular annual registration fee as well. I dont think they will buy it. I get the feeling Mtld is being greedy here.


The applicant has to demonstrate how they communicate the cityname.mobi domain on existing websites on other top level domains.



Too many stringent requirements and at a big cost for a Tld that very few outside of our domaining society have even heard of. I dont think it sounds attractive. In fact it sounds a bit arrogant and greedy of .Mobi to do it this way.

The other less attractive option would be to offer these domains to the cities for a fixed price and thereafter the city just pays the normal yearly registration fees. I dont get this leasing stuff. In fact when you register a domain you are actually just leasing it anyway as it is only yours for as long as you pay the registration fees. You never own it.

I just cant see this turning into a success the way Mtld proposes to do it now.

[Scandiman]

Considering most cities pay their gardeners more than 2,000 euros a month I don't see this annual marketing budget as a big deal. Also, the application states;

• Local marketing efforts for the Offered Name web-site at a minimum
cost of €2,000 per annum. This may include, for example, the
distribution of private branding collateral with the .mobi website name.
[Please note that mTLD will provide marketing support].

What that support from mTLD entails is not specific but regardless, if you've been involved in any marketing campaigns 2,000 euros is a very small budget. In all honesty, they've set the bar pretty low but I'm glad they've done it at all.

Obviously we disagree on this point, time will tell if they've made a wise move or not.

[Binaryman]

I respect your opinion Scandi and I hope sincerely that I get proven wrong here.

[Scandiman]

Well in the event it doesn't go so well, they can always adjust their terms. Helsinki.mobi is a good example of what can be done and most cities have tourist boards or chambers of commerce who have operational budgets that can easily cover these expenses. Considering most "city".coms are owned by private parties not affiliated with the cities, I think many cities would be interested in moving forward on their .mobi's. Ultimately in this whole processs I see mTLD is concerned that the domains are used productively and not parked. Hopefully this method finds some measure of success. Time will tell.

[Binaryman]

All very interesting Scandiman. Actually there have been calls for seperate city tld's to be created by New York and also Berlin. Possibly this might make a city .Mobi extension popular. Here are some links on this issue and the question and debate surrounding it that you might find interesting.
Regards
Fred.

Ps. I notice that Berlin.com is a parked page and is owned by someone in the US. Dont know why the city of Berlin has not offered to buy that site. Or maybe they have and the guy wants too much although if they want it badly enough a deal is not a problem I think in this case or perhaps they dont want a .com. Dunno seems strange.

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=672&res=1024_ff&print=0

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/27/icann_tld_regional/comments/

http://www.circleid.com/posts/tld_domain_cities_berlin/

http://www.cb3qn.nyc.gov/page/33828/

http://www.openplans.org/projects/campaign-for.nyc

[Binaryman]

Hmmmm hallo...errrr..hi...uhm..Scandi? you there? hmmmmmmm..odd.

[Scandiman]

Hi Fred, thanks for the bump, been busy.

Not sure what impact if any city tlds will have on city.mobi's. Not even sure if city tld's will launch TBH. Major difference is that a city tld will be even more restricted than a CC tld while .mobi is global. The fact that these major city.mobi are reserved for official use is great because the cities must be involved at some level in the dev of their city.mobi. Their dev is not motivated by PPC or selling ads like most of us but instead is plugged into a greater marketing effort to draw attention to their destination. But a city could also choose to use their city.mobi for official use, sort of a mobile govt pages section. There are lots of possibilities and I think we are in for some interesting official city.mobi sites in the future.

[Binaryman]

Hey Scandiman looks like Vance Hedderel from Mtld took my suggestion and he is now offering the 650 city .mobi's for free just as I said they should do in this thread. Maybe he's been lurking around here..he he he. Here's the offer:
http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39167807,00.htm

[Scandiman]

Hey Scandiman looks like Vance Hedderel from Mtld took my suggestion and he is now offering the 650 city .mobi's for free just as I said they should do in this thread. Maybe he's been lurking around here..he he he. Here's the offer:
http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39167807,00.htm

I don't think anything has changed with the release of the reserved city names.

-A nonrefundable processing fee in the amount of €150 with
each Offered Name application

-Local marketing efforts for the Offered Name web-site at a minimum
cost of €2,000 per annum.

But the domain itself is "free" because it is not actually sold or transferred to the user. mTLD will remain the owner of the domain. The author of the article is somewhat misleading readers by saying the names are "free".

[namewaiter]

i'm pretty sure they still need to commit to the 2,000 per annum in marketing/promotion, but hell this could be covered by including their city.mobi address on their next brochure print run... really not much for a city tourism agancy

[Binaryman]

Hmmm yes I see now. You're right. Free as in that article is misleading.

[Scandiman]

Hmmm yes I see now. You're right. Free as in that article is misleading.
I'm glad you are out there finding all this info and sharing, I really appreciate it.

[bricio]

Thanks for the link. vegas.mobi and lasvegas.mobi should be interesting. You going to apply for rio.mobi??

yes, ill try it!!!