DUBLIN, Ireland-The company behind a mobile-specific Internet domain released guidelines for publishers looking to build wireless Web sites.
Top Level Domain Ltd. (mTLD) unveiled mandatory rules and recommended best practices for users of the .mobi domain, which is set for commercial launch this summer. The company hopes to create standards for the new made-for-mobile sites, ensuring such offerings are easily accessed by wireless phones.
“Many existing Internet protocols and practices are grounded in desktop PC-oriented services and were not designed with a mobile device in mind, which has led to a less-than-optimal performance for the end user,” said Neil Edwards, general manager of mTLD.
But analysts question the need for a mobile-only domain, citing increased usage in WAP and new Web browsers that format traditional Internet sites for mobile handsets. Novarra Inc. and Opera Software ASA each offer full Web browsers for mobile phones, and India-based developer Jataayu Software is expected to showcase a similar offering next week at 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Such new wireless Internet browsers will increasingly make the .mobi tag irrelevant, according to Roger Entner, vice president of wireless telecoms for Ovum.
“It’s really a great idea that has been realized past its prime; it’s like today somebody coming out with a Ford Model T,” Entner said of the domain in October. “These (new) devices are very powerful in terms of computing capabilities; they can look at regular Web sites and work just fine.”
