Today I decided to keep reesa.me, the domain name I had registered on a whim, at least for another year. At less than $10, it was a terrific deal when I first bought it, but now costs more than $20 a year to renew. I fell for the “limited time offer” sales pitch that said DotMe was going to be the hottest domain name extension ever. But DotMe does not seem to be gaining widespread acceptance. Ah, well …
On the other hand, one domain name that’s growing in popularity, rather than fading into oblivion, is .MOBI. It’s great for restaurants and other businesses whose customers are likely to go to their website from an Internet-ready cell phone. Its name comes from the word “mobile” as in mobile device, mobile Web etc.
The .Mobi domain name was approved by the international domain name registry, ICANN, in 2005 and first became available for public sale in 2006. Originally sponsored by Microsoft, Google, Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung and other technology concerns, Afilias acquired dotMobi early this year.
DotMobi worked with the W3C Mobile Web Initiative to help determine best practices and standards for achieving good user experiences on mobile Web-enabled devices. The mobiReady testing tool evaluates whether your website is ready. It used to be a requirement that .mobi sites be optimized for mobile devices but from what I hear, this is no longer enforced.
If you have been thinking about getting a DotMobi name, click Sheer Domain Names because they’re on sale today. Yay!
