A new top-level domain name for websites aimed specifically at mobile content, .mobi, has been approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
At a Luxembourg meeting July 11, ICANN said the domain would be ready with its first launched and operating websites next year, and would be designed and fitted to small screen and limited memory and bandwidth.
The timing would coincide with what's billed as the first-ever Mobile Adult Content Congress for the United States coming to Miami, Fla., January 24–January 26, 2006.
A group of mobile phone companies and supporters including Hutchison 3, GSM, Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, T-Mobile, Telefonica, and Vodafone issued a joint statement saying the more Web pages optimized for handheld or portables rather than desktop or laptops, the more likely consumers would be to upgrade their cell phones.
"As .mobi will encourage the usage of advanced functionalities in mobile devices, the market potential for those devices will increase," said the statement of the group known as mTLD Top Level Domain, which will administer the new domain.
ICANN chairman Vint Cerf told Reuters in a conference call that mobile Web services would also use geographic information to take advantage of changing locations of mobile devices.
Not everyone thinks .mobi is a good idea. Tim Berners-Lee, the man considered the father of the Web, has criticized .mobi for its platform dependence. "The Web must operate independently of the hardware, software, or network used to access it; of the perceived quality or appropriateness of the information on it; and of the culture and language, and physical capabilities of those who access it," he said in his own formal statement.
Playboy Online vice president Victor Penev and Vodafone director of community and content standards Tina Southall are the scheduled Adult Mobile Content Congress keynote speakers. The gathering will address such topics as operators' role in responsible adult content delivery, protecting children from inappropriate content, business models for adult mobile content selling and distribution, regulatory concerns, and other topics.
Juniper Research has estimated the world adult entertainment market is now worth between $31billion to $75 billion, with the adult mobile market in the United States likely to hit $2.1 billion by 2009.
