Mobile content gets .mobi domains

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has finally granted permission to the .mobi domain name extensions for websites dedicated to content optimized for mobile phones. These small screen devices uses webpages developed using a different format than HTML to make them friendly for the smaller screen. This new domain format would be assigned next summer and there will be a 90-day honeymoon period, which will give owners of registered brands time to register their claim to similarly named .mobi addresses.

mTLD Top Level Domain would be managing this format domain names. This organization consists of companies like Hutchison 3, GSM Association, Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, T-Mobile, and Vodafone. Chairperson of the mTLD Top Level Domain board, Ameet Shah said in a statement: “.mobi will enhance and improve the ease of use of internet-based mobile data services through discoverability, predictability, speed, and delivery to market. The new .mobi domain will indicate to consumer and enterprise users that the site they are visiting is optimized for the delivery of content and services to mobile devices. This quality assurance will attract users and stimulate internet-based mobile data usage.”

The group has been given the right to manage this domain for the next 10 years. They have already announced plans to auction off the popular keyword domains like travel.mobi, hotel.mobi and restaurant.mobi to the highest bidders. ICANN just last month allowed the Adult content industry to have their own domain format in the form of .xxx.