What are Mobile Domains?

The mobile domain is a fairly new concept on the domain name market.  As wireless technology becomes more tightly integrated with the internet, webmasters are increasingly trying to target a new audience – mobile web surfers.  If you are looking for innovative ways to increase your visibility, you may want to consider a domain name strategy centered around the fast growing traffic surfing the mobile web.

In 2004, a case was made for adopting DotMobi as a new Top Level Domain.  In 2006 .mobi became a reality, now standing alongside TLDs like .com and .net.  The major difference is that this extension is exclusive to delivering the internet to mobile devices.  This is not to say that .coms and other popular extensions can’t be viewed over a mobile device.  The advancements in web technology essentially means that any website can be developed for mobile browsing.

Interoperability and Usability Problems

While any given domain can be optimized to provide the internet experience via a PC or mobile phone, integrating the technologies isn’t as easy one may think.  Despite all the advancements, most mobile devices do not support key web elements such as Javascript or cookies.  And because 3G is still only present in a small number of devices, the mobile internet as a whole lacks the speed needed to surf the web effectively.  For this reason, the development of mobile websites must be handled on a separate scale for now.

The Bright Side

The issues of incompatibility does not mean that the technologies will never work in perfect harmony.  For now, you may want to consider leaving your existing website as is and then optimizing another for mobile internet traffic, giving yourself the opportunity to embrace audiences on two separate webs.  Now is probably the best time since using the mobile internet to increase visibility is a new strategy altogether.

One should keep in mind that mobile domains and the mobile internet are both such new concepts that they will require some fine tuning in order to catch up to the much more mature internet.   So, even though mobile technology has come a long way, there is still a while to go before we truly enjoy a seamless browsing experience like we do on a PC.

Mobile domains represent an exciting period for the internet world.  Technology has taken us so far yet we have barely even scratched the surface.  When it comes to mobile web surfing, the possibilities are endless.

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