Comments on: 'Dot-mobi' domain for mobile devices hits the Web

A new domain is available for mobile phone Web sites, but some experts say it's not really needed.

[hadaso]

Why I don't use the "mobile web"

Several years ago I tried to get info from my mobile carrier about "internet enabled" means in their publications about phones they sell. All I could get from the sales person is that "it's not the internet you know from your computer". It's another internet, so all I could learn is that the sales person doesn't understand anything. When I finally got a wap enabled phone I found I could access my email provider's wap site and see my email, but it required navigating through all the "content" offered by my carrier (horoscopes etc...) and then I have to enter a complete url including http:// using several keystrokes per character, and in a way that is not consistent with with the way characters are entered in other phone fubctions (phonebook, sms) and that is not documented anywhere. Then I had to change my password at my email provider so it contains only characters the phone could cope with. And finally I could see my email but not anything that is encoded in a way the phone cannot handle.

The main obstacle was really the close to 5 minites time to get to start reading email each time. So I never used it. And I didn't upgrade my phone to something more modern because mainly I saw that my carrier abuses its position as a supplier of connectivity to push its own "content".

There's a conflict of interest between supplying connectivity and supplying content, and at least with my carrier it means I never got to see any explanation about how to use the phone for accessing the internet except for advetisement of their "cool content". They are focused mon selling ringtones and similar junk and not on providing connectivity.

[dysonl]

Good Comment! UI is still a big problem...

The interface is definitely a big obstacle to mainstream adoption of this technology. Even small "keyboards" as found on Blackberry devices are not the answer to the problem.

I think the missing piece to the user interface puzzle is voice recognition/dictation. I believe when speech recognition on mobile devices is finally done right, we will see the "mobile web" taking off.

Right now, the carriers are pushing applications but without a (viable) user interface -- they are putting the cart before the horse. (Incidentally, a local mobile carrier is currently advertising massively about their new mobile IM service. It's quite ridiculous when you think about it...)

[pencoyd]

Need another TLD like a...

While this has more purpose (sort of) than the proposed .xxx top-
level domain (TLD), .mobi seems like a solution in search of a real
problem.

It's not the lack of .mobi that's limiting handheld/mobile surfing.
It's the lack of bandwidth and need, at least in the United States.

[hadaso]

Why I don't use the "mobile web"

Several years ago I tried to get info from my mobile carrier about "internet enabled" means in their publications about phones they sell. All I could get from the sales person is that "it's not the internet you know from your computer". It's another internet, so all I could learn is that the sales person doesn't understand anything. When I finally got a wap enabled phone I found I could access my email provider's wap site and see my email, but it required navigating through all the "content" offered by my carrier (horoscopes etc...) and then I have to enter a complete url including http:// using several keystrokes per character, and in a way that is not consistent with with the way characters are entered in other phone fubctions (phonebook, sms) and that is not documented anywhere. Then I had to change my password at my email provider so it contains only characters the phone could cope with. And finally I could see my email but not anything that is encoded in a way the phone cannot handle.

The main obstacle was really the close to 5 minites time to get to start reading email each time. So I never used it. And I didn't upgrade my phone to something more modern because mainly I saw that my carrier abuses its position as a supplier of connectivity to push its own "content".

There's a conflict of interest between supplying connectivity and supplying content, and at least with my carrier it means I never got to see any explanation about how to use the phone for accessing the internet except for advetisement of their "cool content". They are focused mon selling ringtones and similar junk and not on providing connectivity.

[bigyahu]

Mobile compliance really *isn't* the big issue

There are surely some much bigger barriers to address first:

* Carriers locking consumers into a 'carrier deck' that they can't leave
* Carriers selling phones with incorrect internet settings loaded
* Carriers changing their gateway settings and not notifying their customers and supplying new settings
* Slow internet data speeds
* High internet data costs per Kb instead of flat-rate all-you-can-eat
* Using a WAP browser is still like surfing the web on a PC with a 486 chipset, 14.4k modem and 3" monitor, using only the numeric keys of the keyboard

http://bluepulseblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/are-mobi-domains-solving-problem-that.html

[kwilsonjr]

MOBI Boon for Smartphones

The one thing dramatically lacking in smart-phones is the ability to use the web as it was intended. Going from home PC or laptop to your mobile phone web browser is culture shock. Usability is virtually non-existent.

I and many consumers try to use our web enabled phones to check movie times, sports scores, price shopping and so forth. Having this information at our fingertips has become part of our busy lifestyles. Only we can't fully realize the benefits because of the inept way that handheld web browsing has been deployed.

Websites, even ones designed for webphones,display completely different depending on the phone you use. There is no consistency in design. Going from home page to the information you are seeking may take seconds on your home PC, but 4 or 5 minutes fumbling with your handheld, navigating through the incoherent structure of the website.

In order to keep pace with handheld technology, a new way of deploying handheld websites is mandatory...and MOBI seems to be the perfect solution.

I anticipate MOBI being so integral to the phone browsing experience, that websites will default to the MOBI TLD (Top Level Domain), rather than the familiar COM TLD. No more typing in extensions, unless you want to bravely forage into the dot com world from your phone. Type 'movies' and hopefully some entrepreneurial soul will have all the movie listings at your fingertips.

I can't count the times I have fired up the browser on my Treo, and given up in frustration.
Smart-Phones need a Smart-Web. The MOBI domain is it.

[kwilsonjr]

Author

Ken Wilson
San Diego, California

[copypro4u]

There's one big problem for mobile internet...

Cost... most people that I know of who are using the mobile internet aren't paying for it... their companies are. So at 45-50 bucks a month with your wireless carrier, that's hard for the average person to justify... especially when the mobile onlineexperience isn't that great.

Perhaps once the cost barrier comes down, more people will use the internet. But until then, widespread mobile intenet use isn't going to gain a lot of consumer traction.

[browza]

Well it looks like this turned out to be unworkable - MTLD, who changed their name to Dotmobi, have given up on requiring .mobi domains to deliver content in a format suitable for mobile devices. They reported a big loss for 2007-2008, though financial results for 2008-2009 are not out yet. There's a full article at GoMo News http://www.gomonews.com/trouble-in-dotmobi-paradise/