A new top level Internet Domain for the worldwide mobile community is expected to become available in six months. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization which is responsible for approving .com, .org, .biz, .net, .edu, etc. has now approved .mobi.

The goal of this dedicated domain is to better serve today's 1.5 billion cellular subscribers and to distinguish online content providers, who are willing to convert their information to a mobile phone format.

As reported in U.S. News & World Report on June 20th, China had 269 million cellphone users in 2003. By 2008, the country expects to have 500 million. And that's just China!

Bringing Valuable Content To A Cell Phone Nearest You

Internet companies like Rugged Elegance, which promotes San Francisco's extraordinary hotels, restaurants, shops and services neighborhood-by-neighborhood and genre-by-genre, have been enticed to create a mobile platform for their content since Yahoo! introduced their new suite of services including a Yahoo! wireless Internet portal at CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment Conference in San Francisco last fall.

To see all that Yahoo! Mobile offers from the ease and comfort of your cell phone go to:

Preparing Your Web Presence for Mobile Browsers

Last October, Tom Hespos of Underscore Marketing in New York said in an inspiring piece for MediaPost.com:

With the fully functional Web browsers available in many smart phones and other mobile devices these days, it's a wonder many Web sites don't create multiple versions of their pages, so that these limited-bandwidth devices can quickly get to the content they need.

It's easy to program a web server to recognize the user-agent string of a requesting browser and tailor the returned page appropriately.

Many Web sites do this already, and have been doing so for years. Others are sadly behind the times. With mobile Web users measuring in the tens of millions in the United States alone, why would anyone fail to optimize their site for mobile devices?

Well Tom, now there is even more incentive for content providers to do exactly that -- thanks to ICANN.

Hespos went on to say:

Rather than depend on reports of mobile Web usage that come out from time to time (and range widely in their assessment of penetration), may I suggest taking a look at your Web site's log files to check the percentage of users trying to access your site with alternative devices?

That will give you a more accurate gauge of the demand for your company's information via Web phones, and might also give you some insight into what other devices your consumers are using to access your site.

Great idea!

So, What is .mobi?

.mobi is a new web domain name extension for the use in the mobile community. Mobi JV, a joint venture, (see below for list of investors) has applied to ICANN to propose a new sponsored TLD, .mobi. ICANN has approved the .mobi sTLD. However, a time frame has not yet been established as to when registrations will be available.

There are now over 1.5 billion cellular subscribers and those numbers are only expected to rise. The sTLD .mobi is specifically proposed for the benefit of those subscribers. .mobi domain name registration, if approved, will come to be known as the TLD for mobile devices. If your business wants to reach out to mobile subscribers, .mobi is an excellent opportunity to stand out, as the nature of the sTLD is specifically intended for them. As many companies were beaten in the rush to acquire desired .com domain names, the .mobi sTLD is a new channel to differentiate your business from the sea of .coms and .nets and to protect your brand name. Consumers will also be able to register a .mobi domain name for personal uses.

Sunrise Period

There will be a .mobi Sunrise Period. This will give trademark owners, with trademarks applied for prior to March 10, 2004, a chance to register their trademarks in the .mobi sTLD on a first come first serve basis. Mobi JV will require documentation of the trademark. Trademark owners may choose to register and use the .mobi domain name or simply to protect their brand from ownership by another. No timeframe has been given as to the start of the Sunrise Period at this time.

Thank goodness we're protected now. Do you remember the days -- back in 1994 -- when an individual could register CocaCola.com and own the domain name?

Today, there now exists An Online Interactive Course in Internet Ethics.

Sidekick II HipTop Phone by Danger

Thanks go to mobile phone operators and handset makers, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, T-Mobile, Huthison 3, GSM Association, Ericsson, Telefonica Moviles, and Vodafone, who influenced ICANN's recent decision.

A joint venture of these mobile technology companies, called mTLD Top Level Domain, expects to start issuing Internet .mobi domain names in the first half of next year. mTLD Top Level Domain has been contracted to provide the registry service for .mobi for the next ten years.

We look forward to offering RuggedElegance.mobi for our discerning audience who lives in San Francisco or who may be visiting and are looking for the best "places of taste" in our great city. Currently, Web-browser enabled phones, like my T-Mobile Sidekick II by Danger, allow you to walk down the street and pull up our select hotels, restaurants, shops and services on your phone. However, before the end of the year, we'll have a Mobile interface in place.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "putting your dollars and valuable sense in your pocket" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC