dotMobi cashes in on domain name auction

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 9 Oct 2007 at 11:55

The registrar of the new .mobi internet domain has hailed the success of the first online auction of the new web destination.

dotMobi auctioned 100 domain names, the first time that selected addresses have been offered via auction rather than on a "first come, first served" basis. As a result, the company was able to raise a healthy $850,000.

The auction's most desired name was hosting.mobi which sold for $101,000. Both bank.mobi and download.mobi attracted top bids of $51,500, currency.mobi reaped $47,000 while Insurance.com, an independent, online insurance agency, purchased insurance.mobi for $42,005.

"We see the long-term value of the mobile internet," says Joe Singleton, director of Information Technology, Insurance.com. "The .mobi domain will be a valuable tool in continuing to build our future consumer offerings."

David Ryder, dotMobi's chief marketing officer says the success of the auction demonstrates the potential in mobile content. "With more than 1.6 billion mobile users around the world, it's obvious that brands are quickly realising that the audience for mobile content is enormous," he says. "This auction proves that dotMobi has some of the most-wanted domain names in the world, and it's exciting to start seeing how they'll be used for content."

A second auction takes place on 31 October when names including car.mobi, gps.mobi, gay.mobi, kiss.mobi, love.mobi and map.mobi will be available.

$100,000 may seem a lot to pay for a web address, but it pales in comparison with the staggering amounts paid at the height of the first dotcom boom when private equity firm eCompanies paid $7.5 million for business.com. eCompanies was far from alone in failing to anticipate the rise of search as the chief way of finding information on the net.

Nonetheless, it is still a lot of money. Tim Berners-Lee, the web's inventor, has criticised the proliferation of domain names , arguing they serve no purpose other than the enrichment of registrar companies. The fact that Insurance.com paid more than $40,000 for insurance.mobi suggests he may have a point.

Part in response to Berners-Lee's comments, ICANN, the international body that oversees the entire domain system, began public consultation earlier this year on plans to develop new processes for the creation, approval and implementation of new top-level domains such as .mobi.