Well, I’m sure I’m not the only one who was holding my breath waiting to see if .mobi got approved or not. But after May, registration can begin on yet another domain extension. Do we really need a another domain extension? Well, in some ways, this might be a step forward to truly creating the mobile Internet on handheld terminals. Currently, it’s pretty ridiculous what I have seen both myself and others try to do: Surf the Internet on a smartphone and expect a similar experience. Large graphics, large pages, plug-ins, cookies, banner ads — not to mention, lots and lots of scrolling.
So will .mobi magically change the way the mobile Internet will be presented? Well, like most things in the mobile/wireless space, it’s one piece of the ecosystem puzzle. But having another extension is just like having metallic body paint on a sports car. It’s still about what’s under the hood. WML has certainly lasted a bit too long and it’s perhaps time we did an entire transplant away from all the different mobile markup languages and try and adopt a universal one. Unfortunately, it’s still very much a power struggle with technology titans like Microsoft and Nokia racing for competiting standards with the likes of Vodafone, T-Mobile, and many many others.
For .mobi to succeed, there must be strict rules and enforcement from the industry, such that the expectation from the subscriber is a rich experience from their device. This perhaps is also glossing over the fact that device screen size, plug-ins, and a myriad of other features have yet to have some mutual agreement. If the industry and the rest of the ecosystem support simplicity, the best user experience, and migration towards one or two standards, I’m sure there is enough for everyone to profit. At 1 Billion mobile phone users and growing, it’s a tall order that needs to give serious thought and consideration.
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