Russell Beattie

I really like the guys over at .mobi, not because of the .mobi top level domain per se, but because of their constant effort to promote the mobile web and web standards. If you think about the other new TLDs that have been created in the past, like .pro, .biz, .info, etc. they've really all been scams for the most part with no real reason for existing at all. And even if they did have sort of a reason like .pro, they were never promoted really by anyone, and consequently, few if any decent websites out there use these domains now. But the guys at .mobi really have approached their new TLD differently. I mean, they've been on a mission since day one and they really haven't wavered. Not only do they have a constantly updated blog (which isn't written by a corporate drone), they're putting effort into testing tools and talking to developers and now they're going to be the center point for a much needed mobile device database. This is all really great.

Now, about the .mobi domain idea? Well, I can honestly tell you that I thought it was a good idea last year, if only as a way to standardize mobile website domains, and then I started getting wishy washy about it as many of the established websites started using the m-dot prefixes, but you know what? Knowing that the .mobi guys are there promoting, innovating, and generally doing what they can to spread the best ideas of the mobile web, has really warmed my attitude towards the .mobi domain. I mean, the TLD is not going away any time soon, but I'm talking about the idea of it being accepted as a sort of standard - I think it may yet occur.

I'll probably keep using the m-dot prefix for a while because, being pragmatic, I think that's going to be the easiest route for a lot of sites out there, but you know, I'll also be registering the .mobi domain as well, just in case they start getting hot.

-Russ