Something fundamental is happening

[worldonmobile]

Hi. You should read this article.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8961634/Googles-mobile-moves-make-money...-and-sense.html
Google is making many new movements that could mean a new edge for mobile web.
It was very new and I had no idea about: "For Google, mobile is all about advertising. Its acquisition of AdMob for a whopping $750 million was the landing screen for its expansion across the sector and has seen many emulators. The recent $200 million investment in DotMobi and on-going industry interest in the purchase of independent mobile ad servers such as Millennial Media underscore how prescient Google was in that acquisition."

Google's new project GoMo... I'd like to know your thoughts.

[andymoore]

Bull**** in a word.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...ment+in+DotMob

Never trust the media. They're full of crap, journalists are scumbags who twists words and don't bother checking facts.

[ChinaMobi]

The recent $200 million investment in DotMobi

It's only a rumor -- an old one indeed.
Source: http://www.circleid.com/posts/201112...tment_dotmobi/

Now, back to developing more mobile stories...

[Accent]

What a great rumor.
It is beautiful marketing if it is a planted story.

And it is plausible (except maybe the price). The flood into Mobile is still in the early stages even though it seems like forever ago when we started this ride. There is going to be a LOT of money wanting to get in the mobile game - and .Mobi is a prime, poorly developed asset.

I would prefer Afilias to promote .Mobi themselves, they are a stable company. But if they are too busy to promote the extension properly then someone else may well buy it from them.

[coast]

Accent why would Afilias want to sell dotMobi?The TLD is probably the smallest part of that company and has been for years.

[Accent]

Afilias just bought .Pro and have a bid in for .contract (interesting choice). On April 30 we will find out if they are bidding for other TLDs. So Hal Lubsen, Afilias CEO, is buying up extensions. The assumption here at Mobility is that he will hold down expenses and ride the renewals. But maybe not.

Hal is an entrepreneur, he has built several businesses, it appears from scratch. His fire/burglar alarm company appears to be as big as Afilias. He is a totally different kind of CEO than the boot-lickers brought in by Nokia et al. Buy-and-Hold just is not how an entrepreneur operates.

So I expect Hal has a number of ideas to promote .Mobi. Question is will he get to it before the window closes. If he cannot, and a good offer, one that recognizes the potential, comes along he could sell.

[coast]

Accent even if renewals aren't on par with other TLDs, dotMobi also has Device Atlas and GoMobi. The sales from that are likely to be what drives the division's revenue model, not renewals. That's what I was trying to say.

[Accent]

You would know better than I.
A million Mobi domains registered probably nets around 5 to 7 million $/year. I had no idea GoMobi and D.A. took in anything like that.

Still, the extension may be worth more to someone else. And the software can be split off.


I am still pondering the fact that .Pro domains are priced at about the same as similar .Mobis. With ten times as many .Mobi names registered that points to .Mobi being severely undervalued, assuming the .Pro market is normal (a tricky assumption). The huge losses experienced by premium domain buyers and their emotional reactions have caused the .Mobi market to fall further than seems justified, making it a takeover candidate in a similar manner as undervalued stock shares expose a company to takeover.

Just trying to find reason to hope.

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[worldonmobile]

Hi,
I just think that this is a first important step, apart of dotmobi's strategy, towards the mobile web instead app's. The arguments set by GoMo to create an specific mobile site are the same used buy dotmobi, and this mean that Google will bet on mobile sites rather than apps. I think that this is a very important change. May be Google will be able to do what dotmobi has not been able, to promote an specific space in the web for mobile-internet that can lead to a more relevant contribution of an specific mobile domain name.

[Nash]

Hi,

I think we are turning a corner here.

[ChinaMobi]

I think we are turning a corner here.

What have you seen to convince you of the change?

[youmo]

What have you seen to convince you of the change?

This whole thread is about thin air.

[andymoore]

@youmo repped++

[coast]

GoMo = Google
Google = Search
Apps = Not Search

Android=Apps
Android=Google

They're doing both.

As for a takeover, if it would cost less to buy an undervalued dotMobi than it would to go through the process of becoming a Registry, it might make sense, but then again, Afilias has economies of scale as registrar for multiple TLD's.

I'm not one to rain on parades so I'll agree to keep an open mind.

[ChinaMobi]

I still think over the long term html5-based web will outperform apps in most cases due to the latter requiring installation, maintenance etc.

[Nash]

What have you seen to convince you of the change?

do a quick google search using the following:

Disney land grab.

If you are waiting for the .mobi recognition/adoption to hit you or us in the face then it will be too late.
You have to research and make your own gut decision about whether .mobi will succeed or not before a single sign shows up in the horizon.
So now Apple share is $630 dollars now. When it was $10 a share would you have said "Yes I feel this stock will rocket to $600".

The best sign I feel is that mobile web is moving exponentially.

During his first ever keynote address at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that more of his company's focus is now on smartphones than on desktops. He summed this up with a new motto: "Mobile First".

This can only be good for .mobi. I think.

[gogo]

You would know better than I.
A million Mobi domains registered probably nets around 5 to 7 million $/year. I had no idea GoMobi and D.A. took in anything like that.

Still, the extension may be worth more to someone else. And the software can be split off.


I am still pondering the fact that .Pro domains are priced at about the same as similar .Mobis. With ten times as many .Mobi names registered that points to .Mobi being severely undervalued, assuming the .Pro market is normal (a tricky assumption). The huge losses experienced by premium domain buyers and their emotional reactions have caused the .Mobi market to fall further than seems justified, making it a takeover candidate in a similar manner as undervalued stock shares expose a company to takeover.

Just trying to find reason to hope.

Does anyone know what Gomobi or DeviceAtlas earn? If they publish usage figures we could work it out.

Aflilias' annual accounts can be obtained from the Irish Companies House for €2.50 but Dotmobi is just a subsidiary.


As for mobi domains being undervalued, .me and .tv and .asia have less registrations but higher resale values. So at best .mobi might improve to be like .info, widely used but low and unpredictable resale value. And it is not a stock so there is no incentive to buy the company if the domains are undervalued.

Who owns the 1m .mobi domains? New speculators? Gomobi users?

[freeflow]

Just found the following information which fits to the topic of this thread.

Here’s the truth: If your app is the only component of your mobile strategy, you’re missing the boat. Mobile-optimized web pages are rapidly becoming the most important way to grow your online audience,” NPR’s Steve Mulder and Keith Hopper recently wrote.

http://www.knightdigitalmediacenter....medium=twitter

[Accent]

As for mobi domains being undervalued, .me and .tv and .asia have less registrations but higher resale values. So at best .mobi might improve to be like .info, widely used but low and unpredictable resale value.

Other smaller extensions with higher resale value are further indication .Mobi is undervalued in my mind. Info sells for $1 for the first year, which has destroyed the brand, IMHO, despite the large number of domains registered. Thank heavens Afilias has not tried that with Mobi.

And it is not a stock so there is no incentive to buy the company if the domains are undervalued.

Not just the domains are undervalued, the extension itself is underdeveloped. It is hard to imagine a new extension with the potential of the mobile web, yet people are going crazy trying to get new TLDs. A clever company can re-brand .Mobi and try to tap into that massive growth much as .Mobi was doing for the first year or two.

The resale price is how extensions are ranked by developers and endusers, which is why Com is king. If the resale price were to rise then registrations would rise. More significantly, if registrations were to rise due to re-branding and promotion that looked to be a real change of direction, then resale prices would rise rapidly. If the Google rumor were true then everybody and their sister would be here the next day trying to buy. There also is the incentive of the premiums and one/two letter .Mobis still owned by dotMobi - they are the biggest .Mobi domain investor.

Who owns the 1m .mobi domains? New speculators? Gomobi users?

A lot less speculators than four years ago. At that time LLL.mobi were all taken and premium CVCV.mobi were almost gone. These are good indicators of the amount of speculation. Last time I checked there were lots of LLL and CVCV available. Ordinary domainers are on the sidelines, although there may be some other kind of speculation going on somewhere. But someone is replacing the domains dropped by speculators. Dare we think that despite dotMobi being comatose the natural value of .Mobi is bringing in end-users?

[FilipinoFood.com]

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