mTrends – mobile media lifestyle trends – m-trends.org

I just read Carlo’s view on the launch of the .mobi registration opening for industries. I agree a lot with his opinion on this but I would like to add something.

Let’s leave the technology out for a moment and look at .mobi from a marketing perspective, personally I believe technology should bring the solution to detect the device and display the apropriate stylesheet, as simple as it can get it should be on the mobile.

How many years (and how much advertising money!) it took at the time to brand the dot com to a critical mass? Now we can assume that a lot of people can associate a brand name with the .com to get to their products/services on the internet. Now .mobi is adding another name extension to create some more confusion… well, I can only think as of it will only serve some.

People on the streets know and remember brand names through advertising – for newbies: hammering the brand name in people’s heads’ day after day, month after month, year after year, through all kinds of possible media… So how long it’s going to take for people to blindly understand that (brand name).mobi means to acces the mobile version of a brand? I’m curious to see the first .mobi ad, this is going to be fun!

Just think at the marketeer or advertising agency who wants to get to its’ client target audience, should they use .com or .mobi in their message? Looking at it from this angle, I don’t believe .mobi will have a long life… technology solutions should be there faster than a critical mass is reached through advertising.

I just wonder if the companies behind the .mobi, like Microsoft , Google , Vodafone Group, Nokia, and others, really think so much different or is it that any Google Mobile Search or operator portal search – soon offered by Google Search anyway (?) lead directly to the .mobi mobile site? I just cannot believe this is a simpler solution.

Wouldn’t it be much easier for the .mobi consortium to spend the money needed to spend on advertising to get their new extension to the masses to find a technological solution for this problem?