The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has approved two new top-level domains: .mobi for mobile telephone and technology companies and .jobs for sites for and aimed at the human resources community and job seekers.
.mobi got critical support from top cell phone and mobile tech companies like Nokia, Microsoft, and T-Mobile. The domain would separate Web sites and other services aimed to work around cell phone limits, including smaller screens and data capacity, ICANN said, noting, for example, that a Microsoft.mobi site would show smaller photographs and less graphics than the main desktop Web site.
.jobs would not necessarily be limited to human resources or job hunting sites, ICANN added, since a company could post its job postings at "Company.jobs" instead of compelling visitors to plunge through page after page on their main Web site.
.mobi and .jobs are the first new domains ICANN has approved since they approved .post for postal and other mail services and .travel for the travel industry in October.
Negotiations for .post and .travel domain name creation began at once and are expected to take many months, with no guarantee that domains would be accepted. This is expected to be the case with .mobi and .jobs as well.
ICANN also has six other domain proposals pending, including .xxx for the Adult Internet, .eu for the European Union, and .asia for Asiatic Web sites. When those would be decided has not yet been determined.
Applicants paid $45,000 apiece earlier in 2004 to have their domain proposals considered.
