Post Archive
› July 11, 2005
.mobi approved - a step closer to a broken web?
Back in December 2004, I commented on ICANN's backing of the .mobi sTLD: the problem with .mobi is that it fundamentally ignores the concept of device independence and tries to solve the mobile content problem by fragmenting the web into "mobile" and "non-mobile" zones. (see also Tim Berners-Lee's opinion on the .mobi sTLD)
Apparently, the last formalities for .mobi's final approval were finished yesterday: new .mobi domains will be on sale from the first half of 2006, according to an article in The Register.
Some (disturbing) snippets from the article:
The pointlessness of accessing the internet through your mobile may soon be over with the creation of a new top-level domain, .mobi.
Yeah, right.
Since .mobi is one of a raft of new “sponsored” top-level domains, it will be run through a sponsoring organisation and applicants for the domain will have to go through a new company called mTLD Top Level Domain Ltd, based in Dublin.
That company will produce a series of style guides and policies that [Rick] Fant said he expected to come in the form of a manual and snippets of downloadable sample code.
Style guides, policies? I doubt Fant is talking about web standards.
The team is also keen to stress that .mobi is not and will not become a standards body. “This is a pick-it-and-go service,” explained Fant. “I will fight any attempt to make it a standards body.” And, he said, it will be operating system neutral.
Hmm?
I hope the Web Standards Project will somehow react against this - if not, we'll soon see a scattered, device dependent web.
Comments
1. July 11, 2005 02:23 PM
2. July 11, 2005 03:46 PM
Ed Knittel Posted…
I think the best thing for developers to do is to avoid the .mobi sTLD like the plague and to continue to develop and promote web sites that are built using standards that are already device independant. Perhaps then the .mobi sites will go way of the .biz sites.
ICANN got this totally wrong which is too bad.
3. July 11, 2005 03:58 PM
Mathieu 'P01' HENRI Posted…
1996 called, they want their cluttered web back!!
My goodness, what do people think ? o__Ő
4. July 11, 2005 04:50 PM
5. July 11, 2005 09:28 PM
Jason LaPorte Posted…
We're moving closer and closer to an authoritatively controlled internet, instead of the internet when it was completely self-run and self-maintained. (For example, most countries except the US, Canada, and Japan want the internet to be UN-controlled. Grr.) Tangentially related, I know, but it's just a bit annoying to see something you love so much go down the tubes.
Now I'm going to go set myself up a gopher server, just for the heck of it. :)
6. July 12, 2005 04:02 PM
Darrel Posted…
Not only is it technologically insane, it's just sounds dumb. Moe-bee? Mob-eye? Moe-bi?
7. July 12, 2005 04:24 PM
Patrys Posted…
It's for the fans of Moby Dick.
Avoiding these uber-cool new domains is the best thing we can do before things like .BestViewedInIE or .ForLowResolutions appear.
8. July 25, 2005 12:47 PM
Hunox Posted…
It won't work. Just like .jobs, .biz, .othercrapdomains
Users are used to .coms, it will be hard-to-impossible to change.
9. July 27, 2005 02:11 AM
10. January 27, 2006 06:46 AM
FDR Posted…
Yea. .mobi is a horrible idea. If they do it then millions of children will die and the ozone layer will disappear. This is horrible. I need to run away screaming in the streets.
Geez people get over it.
11. April 2, 2006 10:44 AM
watwap Posted…
.wap would be much easier for mobile users to key-in on their phones instead of .mobi.
Patrys Posted…
Yeah, and registering a .rich TLD will make poverty history.