dotMobi Launches RFP Process for Premium Names

November 9, 2006; 02:33 AM

dotMobi, the official worldwide registry for the .mobi domain, this week launched the first round of its Request for Proposals (RFP) process for four highly anticipated premium .mobi domain names: "news.mobi," "ringtones.mobi," "sports.mobi" and "weather.mobi."

dotMobi will review all submitted proposals in accordance with the evaluation criteria in the dotMobi RFP application form and expects to announce winning proposals in January 2007. Each RFP submission will be evaluated on the applicant's business and technical capability, with an emphasis on the proposed content for the Web site relating to the domain name. Sites are expected to go live by February 2007.

The application form is available at http://pc.mtld.mobi/switched/premiumsales.html; applications are due no later than December 18, 2006.

The dotMobi Premium Names list is a compilation of commonly used words and phrases which dotMobi has set aside for equitable allocation as an alternate to the traditional "first come, first serve" procedure. These names will be distributed in batches through 2008 using both RFP and auction processes.

Sites built using the .mobi domain make accessing the Internet on a mobile device faster, less expensive and more reliable by offering content tailored for mobile phones. More than 240,000 .mobi domains have been registered since General Registration commenced on October 11, 2006.

"Making names available via an RFP process demonstrates that dotMobi is committed to quality mobile Internet content by giving all potential content providers a chance to present their ideas," said Neil Edwards, CEO of dotMobi. "We know that quality content will be the primary driver of mobile Internet use and we're excited to offer an innovative way to match the best content providers to the domain names representative of the most popular categories for mobile Internet use."

For more information on .mobi domains and how to register .mobi domains, visit http://dotmobi.mobi/. Visit the dotMobi blog at http://blog.mobi/.

About dotMobi

dotMobi (the informal name of mTLD Top Level Domain, Ltd.), a joint venture company based in Dublin, Ireland with offices in Washington, DC, is leading the development of Internet usage from mobile phones by switching on the .mobi domain name. Unique among domain name providers, dotMobi ensures that services and sites developed around .mobi are optimized for use by mobile devices. On-the-go consumers can have confidence that the Internet site or service will work from their mobile device when using the .mobi address.

dotMobi is backed by leading mobile operators, network and device manufacturers, and Internet content providers, including Ericsson, GSM Association, Hutchison 3, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, TIM and Vodafone. dotMobi is also a sponsor of W3C's Mobile Web Initiative.

Vance Hedderel, dotMobi (mobile Top Level Domain, Ltd.) +1-703-485-5563, [email protected] Tara Yingst / Danielle Siemon, A&R Edelman Public Relations +1-650-762-2942 / 2947, [email protected] / [email protected]