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Posts Tagged ‘dotMobi’

Future of the Mobile Web

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Last week we hosted an event loftily titled “The Future of the Mobile Web” at the Dublin Convention Centre.

We had a small but heavy-hitting guest list in the shape of the Riegers from Yiibu @stephanierieger, @ bryanrieger, Jason Grigsby @grigs and Lyza Danger @lyzadanger from Cloud Four, Nokia’s Andrea Trasatti @andreatrasatti, Dave Evans from Amobee, Ernesto Jimenez from Vodafone @ernesto_jimenez and Adobe’s Roger Wood @rogerjwoods.

The genesis of the event was admittedly self-serving – we spend far too much of our time debating the finer points of mobile web in here and felt there was a lot of noise in the debate that we wanted to cut through with the help of a broader, expert forum. But we also had a nobler motive: we wanted to see if we could establish some common ground/consensus on things like HTML 5.0, web versus native apps, responsive design, standards, fragmentation, the long tail of devices that are in use out there and other issues.

We managed to cover this and more in a frenzied day and half at the Dublin Convention Centre last week. I think we made good progress. There was plenty of common ground but there were certainly more nuances than at least I would was expecting.  Bottom line? This stuff is not easy. It’s a complex landscape not just for developers but also for those whose job it is to formulate strategy. But we think we made some inroads into sorting out the myths from the realities and have enough to go on to provide some idea of the direction of travel. We are planning to get all these topics down and documented in a whitepaper that we will publish openly soon. So watch out for that. In the meantime, our sincere thanks to all the above who attended (and tweetstreaming on#fomw) the event last week and I look forward to next time.

DeviceAtlas 3.2 released

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

dotMobi is happy to announce that we’ve just released version 3.2 of DeviceAtlas. This version introduces many new Web-focused properties that let developers fully harness the power of mobile devices with both DeviceAtlas Enterprise and DeviceAtlas Cloud.

We’ve also extended the property set of DeviceAtlas Cloud Premium to include all of the multimedia properties, making the property set at par with DeviceAtlas Enterprise.

The major focus for these new properties is HTML5, which allows advanced Web apps to be completely optimized and provide a faster, richer experience for end users. Having these properties on the server side means fewer requests for the client and less content that has to be sent. It’s a win-win on both sides!

We’ve also introduced a number of standard JavaScript properties that nicely complement the HTML5 set. Many devices, especially non-smart phones, have inconsistent support for JavaScript. These properties take the guesswork out and allow appropriate content to be sent to all users.

The other new property of note is Display PPI. This returns the pixel density for a device’s screen and can be used with the resolution properties to produce images that look sharp on any screen. Many new devices are being introduced with high-resolution “retina” displays, so it is becoming increasingly important to take pixel density into account when resizing images for devices.

This release also brings a new mobile site, built using the award-winning goMobi platform and full access to the Data Explorer for all registered users.

All of the new properties can be found listed on the property pages in our Resource Center.

If you have any questions or comments, please send them to da.tech@mtld.mobi.

Happy fifth anniversary to .mobi!

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
.mobi Laundrush Launch

Members of the .mobi team on September 26, 2006

Five years ago — on September 26, 2006 — the .mobi domain opened its doors for registrations. Only five years ago but, back then, no iPhone. No Android. The Motorola Razr was still cool (if lower-end). My state-of-the-art mobile device was a Wi-Fi-enabled Palm device (without a phone). Conversations at mobile events often centered around Blackberries and what interesting things they could do.

Today, I know one person who still uses a Razr. Palm … thought about them lately, outside of the “What’s up with HP” discussions? Blackberry. We’ve all watched that stock drop; some of us are hoping they find a new niche rather than circle the dead pool. And who even saw an iPad on the horizon?

But, despite all those radical changes on the mobile front, .mobi as a domain has continued to grow. There are now more than one million active registrations and .mobi is the sixth largest generic Top-Level Domain in the world (.com, .net..org. .info and .biz come before it.) There are now two-character domains like nv.mobi and 53.mobi. There are now .mobi sites covering the world, in every vertical. (And in South Africa, “.mobi” is synonymous with “mobile website,” e.g., “Our product needs a .mobi built before we launch.”)

And mobile content is no longer an after-thought. Read what Google said just last week in regards to mobile-ready content and the Google advertising platform, “We will be introducing the mobile optimization of a website as a new factor of ads quality for AdWords campaigns that are driving mobile search traffic. As a result of this change, ads that have mobile optimized landing pages will perform better in AdWords — they will generally drive more mobile traffic at a lower cost.” [Italics mine.]

The .mobi domain was created to help make the mobile Web a viable endeavor. And we can all say the mobile Web, since then, is in everyday use. Did the .mobi domain alone do that? The iPhone certainly helped. But so did dozens of other convergent technologies and services. And it’s part of the reason the dotMobi company’s other products — primarily the goMobi site creator and DeviceAtlas mobile device database — have been successful. Our mobiForge cross-platform developer forum now has more than 50,000 active members, and our mobiThinking forum continues to be a sourcebook of choice for marketers globally.

In the photo above, one-third of us who were there then are here now. That’s a long time for anyone in the world of technology. And that’s a tribute to the belief we have in the .mobi domain, the dotMobi company, and the mobile Web.

So happy birthday, .mobi! It’s been five exciting years; I can’t wait to see what the next five hold!

The proof is in the Parallels platform

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

goMobi LogoToday, dotMobi announced the latest “good news” story on goMobi, our award-winning mobile site building and content maintenance platform: dotMobi has taken advantage of the Application Packaging Standard (APS) to make goMobi available to the 10,000-plus Web services providers and resellers who use the Parallels platform.

Just as the .mobi domain has continued to grow as the standard for naming content — more than one million domains registered and growing — goMobi is fast emerging as the standard tool for mobile content creation and maintenance. Finding new ways to make goMobi available is always part of the internal discussions we have at dotMobi, and we’re very excited to bring goMobi to Parallels.

For those of you who are not familiar with it or only know its PC-emulation software for the Macintosh, Parallels is a worldwide leader in software that is used by companies who offer a full range of Web services (like hosting) to their customers. With the APS packaging that dotMobi has done, Web services companies can easily and quickly add goMobi into their product mix– think “plug and play.” This means that their customers can go mobile and give themselves an opportunity to consider using .mobi to identify that mobile content.

As we previously mentioned a few weeks back, goMobi recently graduated to  version 1.4 with integration with Facebook, Twitter, and foursquare (among others); QR codes and easy-to-design flyers; custom analytics and a hosted image gallery. So, with growing interest in the mobile Web — and tools like these at your disposal — there’s no better time than now to “goMobi.”

By the way, if you’re planning to attend HostingCon 2011 next week, be sure to bookmark our goMobi “buzz” site for event visitors at http://hc2011.mobi, so you can see goMobi in action. And please come visit us at booth #226.

Good news! goMobi nominated as “Best Technology Innovation” 2011

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

On June 2, the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) announced the shortlists for its 2011 “Meffy” awards — and we were excited to see dotMobi on the “Best Technical Innovation” list for goMobi.

Rimma Perelmuter, the MEF’s Executive Director, noted, “This year’s shortlist demonstrates the rise in mobile content and commerce services that not only entertain but also enable deeper consumer engagement and monetization directly via the mobile connected device.”

Since goMobi is designed to help businesses of all sorts engage with their current and potential customers and grow their commerce via mobile, it looks like dotMobi fits right in.

For this award, dotMobi is competing with some interesting companies, each one approaching mobile technology in a very different way:

The winners will be announced on the evening of  July 7, and we hope to share even better news with you after that night.

Welcome, Network Solutions!

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Network Solutions has become the latest goMobi partner. Read the full story.

Meet goMobi v1.3

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

goMobi in action.

On Monday, 7 February, dotMobi released an upgrade to our award-winning goMobi product, bringing it to version 1.3.

While there’s lots to tell you about it, our friends at OpenSRS wrote a very good blog entry explaining everything you need to know about the new version.

So rather than reiterate what they’ve already said so well, let me direct you to their blog for full details.

goMobi Challenge — Extended and iPadded!

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

The goMobi Challenge is on now!

Given that it’s been a very hot summer this year, we decided everyone needed a few days to regroup for the goMobi Challenge.
Since we want to see just how personalized you can make a goMobi site, we’re giving you a little extra time to show us your stuff. We’ve extended the contest through October 17, 2010.

And along with the first-prize package of 100 one-year subscriptions to the goMobi product and highlighting you and your winning entry via an international press release, we’re giving the winner a 16 GB, WiFi-enabled iPad (all the better for looking at mobile websites).

But time is still short, so get going now.

dotMobi Joins President of Ireland for China Visit

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Photo of dotMobi CEO Trey Harvin with Irish President Mary McAlees in China

dotMobi continues to support its presence in China by joining the President of Ireland for an in-country visit.


On 16 June 2010, dotMobi’s CEO, Trey Harvin, demonstrated the company’s commitment to China during an in-country visit from the Irish President. From left to right: Kevin Sherry, Director of International Sales & Partnering, Enterprise Ireland; Trey Harvin, dotMobi CEO; Liu Duo, Director of Communications, Standard Research Institute, MII; Dr. Martin McAleese; Irish President Mary McAleese; Yang Zemin, President of CATR, MIIT; and Declan Kelleher, Irish Ambassador to China.

Announcement re: dotMobi Ownership

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

In case you haven't seen the good news elsewhere, the dotMobi company has been acquired by Afilias

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Afilias, it's a leading and well-established registry company that's been providing registry operation services for the .mobi domain since it launched in 2006. Afilias is also the registry for .info and .aero, and provides technical services in support of 15 top-level domains, including .org (under contract to Public Interest Registry), .asia, and ccTLDs. In all, Afilias supports about 15 million registrations across these TLDs. In short, Afilias is an expert at supporting and growing new TLDs. For them, this acquisition is an opportunity to capitalize on a high growth area of the internet — mobile usage.

The ownership change will be invisible from an operations perspective. The change you will likely see, though, is an increased emphasis on the .mobi domain itself, along with dotMobi's award-winning services like Instant Mobilizer and DeviceAtlas.  

While we have an extensive FAQ, there is one question many of you probably have, "How does this impact dotMobi’s relationship with its 14 founders?" 

The founders of dotMobi remain committed to the mobile Web and support dotMobi's central role in helping consumers find made-for-mobile content. They will continue to provide their expertise, background and support via a revitalized .mobi Advisory Group (MAG), along with individual working relationships that are in place. dotMobi's founders have contributed greatly to the success of the .mobi domain so far. Their oversight and input has been helpful in achieving .mobi’s status as the 6th largest gTLD. 

Early on, the value proposition of .mobi domains needed the vision — and voice — of key players in the mobile industry to ensure that the domain was embraced in a way that would advance the mobile Web. In 2010, the mobile Web has become a part of our daily lives, and an organization with proven expertise in the domain industry is needed to take the domain to the next level of growth. 

Since Afilias already has the industry experience and currently serves as the technical operator for the .mobi domain, the synergy between the companies for this acquisition was a perfect fit. And since Afilias is already providing registry and DNS services for .mobi, Afilias’ acquisition of dotMobi will be smooth and uneventful — likely invisible — for .mobi registrants, registrars and site visitors.

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