Introduced | 2005 |
---|---|
TLD type | Sponsored top-level domain |
Status | Approved |
Registry | Afilias |
Sponsor | Nokia / Vodafone / Microsoft / Afilias |
Intended use | Sites intended for mobile device use |
Actual use | Began to be available for use in 2006 |
Registration restrictions | Adherence to mobile-compatibility style guidelines can be enforced by challenge process |
Structure | Direct second-level registrations are allowed; selected generic second level domains, such as weather and music, are reserved for distribution in an equitable manner which may include auction |
Documents | ICANN New sTLD RFP Application; ICANN sponsorship agreement |
Dispute policies | UDRP |
Website | dotMobi |
The domain name mobi is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the adjective mobile, indicating it is used by mobile devices for accessing Internet resources via the Mobile Web.
The domain was approved by ICANN on 11 July 2005, and is managed by the mTLD global registry. It was originally financially backed and sponsored by Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Telefónica Móviles, Telecom Italia Mobile, Orascom Telecom, GSM Association, Hutchison Whampoa, Syniverse Technologies, and Visa, with an executive from each company serving on mTLD's board of directors.
In February 2010, Afilias acquired mTLD Top-Level Domain Ltd. (known publicly as "dotMobi").
DotMobi domain names have been available for registration by the public since 26 September 2006.
dotMobi engaged with the W3C Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) to help formulate the MWI Best Practices for mobile content. The practices outlined a number of ways to achieve good user experiences on mobile Web-enabled devices, and recognized several methods of implementing these practices.
mTLD has released a free testing tool called Ready.mobi (see mobiForge) to analyze the mobile readiness of websites. It does a free page analysis and gives a .mobi Ready score from 1 to 5. This report tests the mobile-readiness of the site using dotMobi's recommended best practices.