Owners of intellectual property had the first crack at registering their trademarked Dotmobi domain when the floodgates opened on the 12th. Within the first two hours, many of the biggest brands had secured their trademarked domain.
Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, CNN, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Warner Bros were amongst the mobile content providers and entertainment media companies to secure their trademarked .mobi domain on a short limited industry sunrise period in May.
Alexa Raad, Dotmobi's VP of marketing and business development, in an interview with Ipwalk said:
"There is a trend among companies to go directly to the consumer". Mr Raad also stated that, "they are opening up the gates, reaching consumers more efficiently. It's all about channel building. These companies want to build their brands beyond the PC or the newspapers."
The potential of marketing direct to cell phone users with Internet-compatibility is endless. .mobi domain users are excited with the possibility of tapping into the success of e-commerce sites connecting with PC and Mac users and bringing commerce direct to the mobile user with a click of a button.
Dotmobi's VP also added "We are hoping that m-commerce will become popular with travel, sports, entertainment and other consumer brands"
Close to 2,000 Dotmobi domain names were registered during the limited industry sunrise that was held in May and 5,000 .mobi domains were registered in the first few days of the regular sunrise period in June. The regular sunrise period will last for over two months.
These are exciting times for the mobile industry and consumers alike.
