The mobile domain name provider headquartered in Dublin and backed by Microsoft, Nokia and Vodafone, is to begin auctioning domain names aimed at the mobile adult market, estimated to be worth US$3.3bn by 2011.
Dublin headquartered .Mobi, which was established by a consortium of technology industry giants, including Microsoft, Nokia, Vodafone, 3, the GSM Association, Hewlett-Packard, Orange, Samsung and Sun Microsystems, is to bring 14 adult and entertainment-related names to a US domain name auction on 20 February.
The adult domain names to be auctioned at the Moniker TRAFFIC event in the US are naked.mobi and the highly anticipated porn.mobi, while the entertainment and hobby names include broadway.mobi, cards.mobi, geneology.mobi, hollywood.mobi, lottery.mobi, tickets.mobi and vegas.mobi.
Other names to be auctioned are banks.mobi, doctor.mobi, floods.mobi, property.mobi and score.mobi.
“Given the intimate relationship people have with their mobile phones, this set of names promises to be a strong match with content that consumers are actively seeking,” says Amy Mischler, vice-president of identity and brand services at .Mobi.
“One proof point is that a recent study estimated the mobile adult content market will grow from US$1.4bn in 2006 to more than US$3.3bn by 2011. The mobile market that .Mobi helped build is now growing rapidly,” Mischler said.
The last time .Mobi auctioned domain names at the Moniker TRAFFIC event in the US, it netted €300,000 on the sale of two domain names.
Selling for US$200,000 and US$100,000 respectively, the domains flowers.mobi and fun.mobi were among the top 20 domain sales for 2006.
Since it was set up in October 2006, .Mobi has registered over 700,000 mobile domain names.
By John Kennedy
