.mobi takes on .com

While there are over 40 million .com addresses, dotmobi is the new kid on the block

Try accessing a website on your cellphone. Besides the slow connections, chances are that most of the content would not be visible on the small screen. It makes for a very unpleasant experience since most Web pages aren't designed for cellphones or mobile devices. This is all set to change with a start-up Dublin-based Mobile Top Level Domain (mTLD) accepting registrations "� approved by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) "� for '.mobi' addresses (similar to .com).

Those who opt for the .mobi addresses will have to revamp their sites to ensure they work on both cellphones and PCs (remember how websites had to optimise their webpages for browsers such as the Internet Explorer, Netscape and now Firefox?), failing which their addresses will be put on hold.

VeriSign states that almost 50 per cent of the 85.6 million domain names registered worldwide in late 2005 were .com addresses. However, around 1.15 billion people (matching the global internet usage numbers "� cellphone connections are double that) are expected to be using a mobile Internet phone by 2008, according to T-Mobile, Credit Suisse First Boston and Pyramid Research.

Is it only a matter of time before .mobi scores over .com? Jasjit Sawhney, CeO, Net4India says: "The .mobi name space is essentially to bring standardisation to content for viewing via mobile devices. Given there are almost five times as many mobiles in India than internet connections and the fast decreasing cost of internet enabled handsets, the potential would be a vast majority of the businesses that have an online presence."

There's a logic to the statement since one-third of mankind (2.29 billion people) has a mobile phone, according to Informa Telecoms & Media and 3G Americas, June 2006, and about half are expected to be using a mobile Internet phone by 2008, according to T-Mobile, Credit Suisse First Boston and Pyramid Research. Incidentally, India is one of the top five countries with over 100 million mobiles while the Internet usage is just around 40 million.

Alexa Raad, V P ( Marketing and Business Development), dotMobi, says: "The mobile phone is the defacto communicator and 'PC' of the future. As any forward thinking business you will have to consider how you like to represent your business and reach this mobile customer segment in an innovative way. In a country like India with a high mobile penetration "� and the propensity to 'skip' older-generation landline-based high speed access in favour of mobiles "� .mobi provides a perfect solutions for SMEs to establish an online presence and reach their customers. In addition, .mobi allows businesses to reach the customer directly and not be solely dependent on the operator."

Registrations, which began this May, are in full swing. For instance Walmart, Ebay, Amazon, Microsoft and Hutch to name a few now already have a .mobi address. Closer home, companies like Airtel, Zenith and Tata have it. Net4India has already applied for registration in the .mobi sunrise period for over 50 large companies, most of whom have registered multiple domains, says Sawhney.

Sawhney, however, cautions that the first real need for large companies is to protect their names for possible cyber squatting (buying out and holding onto web addresses to make money of it later) since the .mobi registrations have not yet been thrown open the general public. For instance, names like HCL.mobi have already been taken (by US-based Health Care Logistics) and names like Infosys, Wipro and Reliance were still available at the time of going to press.

General registrations will take place from August 10 onwards. However, businesses can avail of 'Landrush' up to September 28 and register their dotmobi domain name of choice at a premium price. "The sunrise period will see only about 1,500-2,000 registrations as during this period only trademark holders can apply. We expect at least 20,000 registrations from India by the year-end," asserts Sawhney. He adds the scenario will be better if it's stimulated by lower internet-enabled handset prices and data usage charges.