LONDON-A group of the wireless industry’s largest players announced a plan to form a domain name registry company for the mobile Internet-an agency similar to the Internet’s ICANN registry company-in order to simplify Internet access from mobile phones.
Microsoft Corp., Nokia Corp., Vodafone, 3, GSM Association, Hewlett-Packard Co., Orange, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sun Microsystems Inc. jointly announced their intention to create a mobile Top Level Domain. The companies said they will file for the Top Level Domain through the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is the association that registers Internet addresses. Top Level Domains include Internet addresses ending in .com, .org, .net and others.
“The creation of a mobile Top Level Domain would allow consumers to access the Internet in very different mobility scenarios, whether the access is provided by mobile operator, Internet service provider or various gateway devices at home or enterprise,” said Pertti Korhonen, Nokia’s senior vice president and chief technology officer. “The wide industry participation highlights the shared objective of offering seamless global access and interoperability of mobile services and applications.”
To date there is no standard format for mobile Internet addresses. The companies behind the plan said the mobile Top Level Domain would help generate new wireless services and entice additional wireless surfers.
