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The domain is designed to identify websites that have content targeted at mobile devices. Anyone registering a .mobi address will receive a copy of mTLD's of rules and best practices on using open standards to ensure that their websites can be viewed and navigated by any mobile phone.

Neil Edwards, CEO of mTLD said that more people now have access to an Internet-ready phone than to a PC with Net access.

'The .mobi Internet address brings

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the ease of accessing the Internet from the PC to mobile phones everywhere, and clearly indicates Internet sites and applications that are designed for consumers on the go,' he said.

'Many existing Internet sites are grounded in desktop PC-oriented services and were not designed with a mobile phone in mind, which has led to less than ideal performance for consumers,' Edwards said.

For more information go to mtld.mobi.

.mobi joins more than a dozen domains which are specific to certain business areas and have been introduced over the last three years. Web-inventor Tim Berners-Lee has criticised this approach to expanding the domain name system, arguing that the only people who benefit are the registrars who make money from each new Web address. New domains, he said, should 'make a commitment to the social system and to the integrity of that piece of the Web'

Heavyweight backers of .mobi include Nokia, Vodafone and Microsoft.