Since September 2006, a new top-level domain dedicated to mobile websites has been available; “.mobi”. The idea is that this replaces the “.com” for mobile sites, and indicates that a website has been designed specifically for mobile devices.

Several domain names with this “.mobi” suffix have apparently been sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, it seems that it’s been rendered obsolete, before the mobile web has even had a chance to really take off.

One problem is that it involves managing a second domain name- at best, a minor administrative hassle, but one which might cost money if someone has beaten you to it (bringing back memories of “cyber-squatting” stories from the 1990s.”) It also devalues the main domain name- not only as the “dot com”or “dot co dot uk” becomes a part of a brand name, but also as “localization” becomes increasingly important on a mobile device, the benefits of a localized web service with a global “mobile” site are lost (for example, amazon.co.uk takes you to a UK-specific version of the Amazon.com store. Would a UK mobile user want to go to the same amazon.mobi as a US user?)

Another problem is the ideal of device independance; the World Wide Web is supposed to work across the board on any device with a web browser. Only a few years ago, the idea of a regular web page working well on a mobile device was hard to imagine; today, devices like the iPhone and developments such as Android and newer versions of the Windows Mobile operating system are bridging the gap between desktop and mobile.

Thirdly, it introduces new problems for les advanced mobiles- those without full “qwerty” keyboards or touch screens; to type “.mobi” on a regular phone keypad takes 9 or 10 keystrokes- compared to “com” (7) or “wap” (3). As well as the extra keystrokes, there’s the fact that “m” and “o” use the same key, so you usually have to wait for the phone to recognize that you’ve finished with the “m” and are ready to start with the “o”.

A different trend has appeared on almost all the major mobile websites that I’ve seen- instead of using a different top-level domain (ie. the “.com”, “.org” or “.co.uk”), they use a different “m.” subdomain- eg. m.Flickr.com, m.facebook.com, m.bbc.co.uk. Less keypresses, less administration, but with the benefits of a stripped down mobile site. (Some sites have an “enhanced” mobile version for phones like the iPhone- such as “x.

So is there any point in a “.mobi” address? There’s no benefit that I can see, but plenty of drawbacks. So I’ll be surprised if we ever see it take off.

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