More than 75,000 sign up for wireless Internet sites

28 Sep 2006

More than 75,000 "dotmobi" domain names were registered on the first day of the open registration period for the wireless websites, according to the Mobile Top Level Domain (MTLD) firm conducting the registration.

Called Landrush Registration, the period followed registrations by some 13,000 domains awarded to trademark holders. The earlier period was called Sunrise Registration.

MTLD, composed of Google, Microsoft, Nokia and the Vodafone Group, said it is taking steps to police fraudulent applications.

"Fraudulent registrations are, unfortunately, a reality for most TLDs and cyber-squatting is the bane of trademark holders worldwide," MTLD said on its blog. "As quickly as some TLDs attempt to take action cyber-squatters rise to the challenge and devise increasingly sophisticated methods of thwarting the system."

MTLD noted that it has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to help validate the dotmobi registrants.

The firm said more than 100 countries were represented among the registrants with the U.S., Canada and China acquiring the most domain names. The Landrush period will remain open for two weeks during which time applicants must pay a premium. After that, prices are expected to drop as competition among domain name resellers increases. GoDaddy.com, a leading registrar, is currently charging $29.99 a year for a dotmobi name, but that price is expected to drop over time.

The dotmobi suffix -- as in ACMEservers.mobi -- is designed to facilitate formatting for web pages designed to appeal to users of mobile wireless devices and particularly to users of cell phones.

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