Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news

I can't tell you whether or not the .mobi domain will be taken up by the masses but I can tell you that the .mobi guidelines are based on the best practices recommended by the W3C's Mobile Web Initiative.

These best practices are designed to help make the mobile web experience an enjoyable one.

The .mobi domain only has three mandatory rules and I don't think any developer would find them onerous. You can read more about those at http://dotmobi.typepad.com/dotmobi/misconceptions/index.html.

However, I'm not sure I understand how helping interested parties, like small businesses, get a mobile internet presence quickly and inexpensively is "gold digging." The press release you reference mentioned some hosting and developer companies who are providing low cost -- mostly free -- tools for creating .mobi sites.

So "gold digging"? I'd say it's more about making the mobile internet accessible to everyone who wants to be part of it.
 

In the old days when real gold digging took place it wasn't the gold diggers (in this case the site owners) that made the most revenue, but instead the ones that sold supplies and anticipation if you like (domain and tool providers). That's what I mean by "gold digging time". It's just business reality that the mentioned providers see an opportunity before site owners do. If the tools are given away for free, then people don't seem to understand how gold digging works :).

My note doesn't critizise .mobi and dotmobi as such, which I hope you agree with.

Yet, I haven't read anywhere how the still ubiquitous WAP-only and i-mode-only phones are supposed to be supported.
 

Thanks for clarifying.

I don't know the answer to "I haven't read anywhere how the still ubiquitous WAP-only and i-mode-only phones are supposed to be supported." but I'm curious myself. I'll research that and let you know more when I know it.