dotMobi Names AutoTrader.mobi as Millionth Site Tested by Acclaimed mobiReady Tool

Free mobiReady mobile-readiness checker from dotMobi used by thousands of brands to improve mobile content for their customers

May 20, 2009; 09:42 AM

DUBLIN and WASHINGTON, May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- dotMobi, the company behind the .mobi Internet domain for finding mobile-friendly Web content as well as the mobiForge mobile Web developers forum, today announced that AutoTrader.mobi - the mobile site of AutoTrader.co.uk, the UK's number one motoring Web site - was the millionth site tested by the mobiReady tool for checking the mobile-readiness of Web content.

mobiReady was launched in November 2006 as a free tool for developers to better understand how their Web content is likely to function on a mobile device. The site checker tests Web sites for mobile readiness as well as time and cost to download, based on the size of the content plus two dozen additional elements. Developed in conjunction with the W3C and leading mobility companies, mobiReady also provides advice on how to repair problems so that content works across the widest variety of mobile phones.

The growth in the use of the tool mirrors the overall growth of the mobile Web. As dotMobi announced in April 2009, there are now approximately 1.1 million mobile site addresses in the world; that means 0.8 percent of all Web sites are now likely to have mobile-friendly content.

mobiReady has proven to be a strong tool for helping developers create and maintain mobile-friendly Web content. Based on the 1,000 most frequently tested pages, dotMobi found that 49.6 percent of those pages improved their mobile friendliness after using the tool, while an additional 39 percent maintained a consistent score. This shows that the bulk of developers who've accessed the tool used the information to improve their sites while many others confirmed that their sites worked as expected.

Ian MacDonald, eMarketing Manager at Wimbledon-based AutoTrader.co.uk, said, "The availability of mobiReady has definitely improved our http://autotrader.mobi site, making sure that our customers have the best possible experience when looking at our site on mobile phones, whether it's an iPhone or Nokia or Samsung. And given that it's a free service, anyone who builds mobile content should be using it."

"Since its launch, mobiReady has proven to be a consistently popular tool for developers and marketers to see how their customers view their mobile content on different kinds of handsets," said Trey Harvin, CEO of dotMobi. "A large part of dotMobi's mission has been facilitating the creation of mobile content, and judging by its thousands of users and consistency in helping developers improve mobile content, mobiReady is a success."

mobiReady is available for free at http://mobiReady.com or via dotMobi's mobile Web developers forum at http://mobiForge.com.

About Auto Trader

AutoTrader.co.uk is the UK's number one motoring Web site, with over 10.3 million monthly unique users, who carry out over 106 million searches on new and used vehicles. The brand is building a competitive position across all effective channels including online, mobile and magazine.

AutoTrader.co.uk is owned by Trader Media Group, one of Europe's largest specialist multi-media groups and provider of market leading Web sites and their associated magazines, including Top Marques, Bike Trader, Truck & Plant Trader, Ad Trader, Motorhome and Caravan Trader, Farmers Trader - all with the largest reach in their sectors, through Web visitors and magazine readership.

Trader Media Group operates in the UK, Ireland, Italy and South Africa. The Group is looking to expand on its winning formula: giving trade customers the opportunity to choose all effective channels to market, building the service and relationship with dealers and manufacturers, and strengthening its portfolio of automotive and specialist classified titles.

Trader Media Group is jointly owned by Guardian Media Group and Apax Partners

About dotMobi

Headquartered in Dublin, dotMobi is a worldwide leader in enabling the development & discovery of quality mobile content through innovative services, helping businesses and individuals reach the world's billions of mobile phone users. dotMobi spurs mobile industry innovation by giving content providers the tools they need to ensure the Web will work on mobile phones with speed, accuracy and relevant content.

dotMobi is backed by leading mobile operators, network & device manufacturers, and Internet content providers, including Ericsson, GSM Association, Hutchison 3, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), Visa and Vodafone.

• Visit http://dotMobi.mobi for information on .mobi domains and all dotMobi services.
• Visit http://mobiForge.com and http://instantmobilizer.com for mobile site development and services.
• Visit http://mobiThinking.com for mobile marketing information and services.
• Of course, use the .mobi equivalents of these sites to guarantee a quality experience on your mobile device. And see the dotMobi blog at http://blog.mobi.

    For more information, please contact:
    Vance Hedderel
    dotMobi
    +1-703-485-5563
    [email protected]

    Gareth Davies
    Edelman for dotMobi (Europe)
    +44-20-7344-1216
    [email protected]

    Danielle Siemon
    Edelman for dotMobi (US)
    +1-650-762-2947
    [email protected]

    Karen Hughes / Caroline Burnell
    The Drum Consultancy
    +44-20-7025-8044
    [email protected]

Source: www.prnewswire.com