Via Alvaro Albarracin’s blog:
“I am excited to announce that I am acquiring what I believe are the very best domains in the Mobile Content / Marketing / Internet, etccc .. Industry. Here they are:
GAMES.MOBI
MOVIES.MOBI
MUSIC.MOBI
PHOTOS.MOBI
SPORTS.MOBI
VIDEOS.MOBI”
If you are like me and wonder who is Alvaro Albarracin, read bio here.
Alvaro’s 12 years of multi-industry management experience includes internet, technology, sales, marketing, web hosting and servers. Most recently as Senior Vice President of Dedicated Hosting for Interland, Inc (Stock:INLD - Formerly MicronPC), where he was responsible for P&L, worldwide product, customer support, sales, marketing, acquiring and integrating other companies.
Alvaro sure has allot of history in the web hosting industry however seems to be (and I may be wrong here) like a complete new face in the domaining community. It may be Alvaro got in the domain game because of two old friends of mine, domain heavyweight, ex interland, Rick Latona or possibly because of MatĂas de Tezanos, as Alvaro is connected to Matias’ new venture Healthcare.com.
domains above (and others) went today in a sedo auction for the following prices:
GAMES.MOBI = USD401K
MOVIES.MOBI = USD82K
MUSIC.MOBI = USD616K
PHOTOS.MOBI = USD51K
SPORTS.MOBI = USD101K
VIDEOS.MOBI = USD51K
Alvaro continues:
I am not planning on developing these names, I am planing on selling these sometime in the near future
This does not change my view on dotMobi. Highly speculative purchase here to say it mildly.
Sell Alvaro .. run like the wind and sell. This man will be joining Dr. Van Neeste in the land of irrelevance shortly
He slapped down 616K for Music.mobi and 401K for Games.mobi? I’ve never met Alvaro, but I have to say that I admire his chutzpah. Whatever the fortune of .mobi will bring, he’s placed his chips on the table and cleared the room. Toast to you!
—-answer—-
Agree! It may be Matias’ influence from the old days of chasing Spanish .com domains when very few believed in them.
I agree that what he did is impressive, but there may be another side to this extremely speculative PR move. On Alvaro’s site, I noticed this at the top of his page:
“Welcome to the official page of Alvaro Albarracin, collaborator of the Government of god in earth with his Worldwide President: Dr Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, The Man Christ Jesus.”
If anyone is not familiar with Dr Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, please read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Luis_de_Jesus_Miranda
This is 100% Jim Jones / David Koresh territory.
—-answer—-
I was curious about what you wrote so after a quick research, came across this link which coincidentally includes a short segment with Alvaro and his parents and their ordeal with this fellow.
This just tells me that one noob bought the mTLD hype and all the big domainers stayed out. I know for one that someone like Rick wouldn’t let a name go if he wanted it bad enough. The fact that this guy got all the good names tells me that the bigger domainers were just missing from the auction and the noobs were bidding against themselves or against shill bids (Sedo has a reputation for that).
These sales in fact undermine my confidence in .mobi even more. Someone just bought the hype and was led by shill bidders to go that high. If even one of the big names was won by a more established domainer, I would’ve bought the hype. But mTLD basically lured the noobs in.
This isn’t really a cause to cheer for .mobi fans. Its more of a cause to mourn since all the anti mobi folks have just been proven right. That its all basically hype, and that all the big players are just staying out.
I am very curious against who or against which company he was bidding for those names.
There was at least another bidder, who wanted to pay more than 600K US dollar for Music.mobi! And there was (another) person or company willing to pay $ 400.000 for Games.mobi!
It is not only this guy who was setting this prices. There always have to be two bidders to determine the end price in an auction…
BTW, to view all premium .mobi auction results, visit [url]www.dotMobiz.com[/url]
Hi,
I am not here to debate the .mobi extension.
But…
I think anyone thats going to invest in this extension… should do a ‘double think’ about this…
Phones are ALL about numbers…mobile phones or whatever phones.
So whats better…
cab.mobi
OR
222.mobi
???
Is it… sports.mobi
OR
776778.mobi
better?
Just asking…I have ‘posed’ this question many times…and no one has ever given me an answer.
Example:
94629.mobi (wimax) OR wimax.mobi ~ 2662378.mobi (concert) or concert.mobi
Peace!
Dan
Regarding the auction of music.mobi here is an interesting thread at namepros:
http://www.namepros.com/dot-mobi/403779-i-bid-611-000-music-mobi.html
A very interesting read actually.
Alex
—-answer—-
Thanks for the tip.
Sahar
@Puranjay
Every domainer was a Noob once…
Good luck with your bashing…I saw a servercrash because of the interest from all those noobs…
Martin
I Don’t see much long term value in .mobi blah blah blah
But I do see this guy taking the roughly 1.3 mill he slapped down and turning it into atleast 2 million. People in the domain game seem to be follow the leader alot. So i wouldn’t doubt the offers he is saying he is already receiving.
At least, Alvaro’s wife is hot!
http://www.discovergirls.com/Martita1.htm
Who says WE don’t NEED .mobi? You premium .com domain holders? I wasn’t even born when .com’s were being registered, I couldn’t care a less about .com. Who are YOU to tell ME that I don’t NEED .mobi? As far as I am concerned I DON’T NEED .COM FOR WHAT I NEED TO DO (THANK YOU VERY MUCH). What if !!I!! WANT to use .mobi for MY new project that targets MOBILE INTERNET users? .MOBI sites are different to .COM, etc PC sites. The public know that .com, etc. sites are for their computer”¦ How can you possibly be sure that .MOBI won’t catch on with people worldwide as being known for sites that ARE DESIGNED FOR MOBILE USERS??? It’s great to be able to visit .com sites on my iPhone but TBH I PERSONALLY HATE SCROLLING, ZOOMING IN AND OUT, ESPECIALLY WHEN I’M ON THE GO!!! ARE YOU SAYING THERE ARE NOT PEOPLE -LIKE ME - OUT THERE TOO? LMFAO.
Also, what if I’m NOT creating a site for PC USERS??? Why the hell would I need a .PC DOMAIN? .MOBI is UNIQUE! IT’S NEW, AND IT’S HERE TO STAY!!!
Good luck to the visionary who saw the great chance to pick up these fantastic domains. Peace!
I think we should congratulate Senor Albarracin for making such decisive investment. This is why this gentleman is such a success in the Internet companies, the film business. In my country we applaud people who take such risk and succeed. I have no interest in his religion - he can be Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Buddhist, Taoist, Deist, Shintoist, Hindu, Pagan - who cares? Please do not make personal attack against this gentleman. He must be very proud what he did yesterday. I hope he makes big success. Dotcom has been very good to me. I enjoy very nice lifestyle - houses around the world. I take care of family. Dotcom and Dotmobi can live together. Make peace, no war, please. We have too much war. And greed. Best luck to you, Mr. Albarracin.
I tried to buy a .com from a guy. The name was not being used for anything. He has it listed for sale with nothing actually on the site itself. I have a fantastic idea for a site and WAS going to use it in conjunction with a .mobi site. The guys tells me, IT’S NOT FOR SALE! I say, why do u have it listed for sale then? No response. Then he says, if he was to sell it would be for over $100,000!!! (BUT STILL IT’S NOT FOR SALE). I’m like, YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME RIGHT? (This guy is a respected domainer). The name has less than 500,000 search results in Google and NO overture whatsoever. What do I do now? Buy a crappy longer .com domain? NO WAY! I bought a premium .MOBI domain and will develop THE WHOLE SITE, mobile & PC (BUT made for mobile users in mind). He can keep his .com and do nothing with it! I don’t NEED THE .COM! AND FACE IT…there are many out there who DON’T NEED IT EITHER! I have total respect for what you OLD domainer guys have done for the industry, but just because I can’t get hold of premium .com domains anymore doesn’t mean I can’t have success on THE MOBILE INTERNET, the next big craze, using .MOBI! END OF ALL THIS TALK…NOW IT’S TIME FOR ACTION (DEVELOPMENT).
I own mu6.mobi (sounds musics.mobi) - Will Alvaro be interested on this ?
Hmmm.. check out this post on Alvaro’s blog:
http://alvaroalbarracin.blogspot.com/2007/12/i-finally-got-another-typo.html
He’s basically advertising that he’s buying typos of companies to forward traffic to his sites. Not very bright.
—-answer—-
Gotta wonder if this blog is a joke? very interesting.
This will go down as one of the–if not the–biggest domain(s) purchase mistakes in the history of the Internet.
I disagree with you, Steve. The 2nd highest bidder of music.mobi was an end user. I’m sure you all know by now the story. How do we know that the other bidders for games.mobi, etc., were not end users? If one end user, with an idea for a music site can bid as high as 600k, then what happens if we see 5 or 6 mega end users, especially for a keyword like ‘music’? I think we are talking about a very valuable extension here, IMHO, but I respect your desicion to sit on the side line.
Great! So the most premium .mobi domains aren’t even going to be developed properly by this Alvaro Albarracin?
“I am not planning on developing these names, I am planing on selling these sometime in the near future”
And should it be developed i wouldn’t be surprised if he would try to reach out to the public with these premium domains to promote his belief of some wacko thinking he is Jesus Christ?
“Welcome to the official page of Alvaro Albarracin, collaborator of the Government of god in earth with his Worldwide President: Dr Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, The Man Christ Jesus.”?
Alvaro: Work out some kind of a deal with the music.us guy. This is his dream domain name. Don’t take that away from him. He will develop a great site. I believe that you a good man and so I have faith that you will do the right thing. There may still be hope for music.mobi.
I have letsride.mobi if you’re interested 7500USD great site for bikers to link up on a poker run.
Timing could not be more inept!
“Opera ships Mini for BREW-based phones”
The company that boasts of having the first Web browser for mobile phones has finally ported its engine to Qualcomm’s BREW mobile application platform.
The Opera browser, which shrinks Web pages to fit on the mobile screen, was the first to take the desktop Web to the mobile Web. Now, a BREW-based version could enable the company to expand its reach even further to cover a significant portion of mobile phones.
“By making Opera Mini available on Qualcomm’s BREW platform, we are able to offer a fast and cost efficient Web experience to millions of mobile phone users,” Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner said.
http://www.betanews.com/article/Opera_ships_Mini_for_BREWbased_phones/1197044752
Does anyone know where the results for Moniker’s Macau China Casino auction are posted?
QUOTE “Timing could not be more inept!
“Opera ships Mini for BREW-based phones”?
The company that boasts of having the first Web browser for mobile phones has finally ported its engine to Qualcomm’s BREW mobile application platform.
The Opera browser, which shrinks Web pages to fit on the mobile screen, was the first to take the desktop Web to the mobile Web. Now, a BREW-based version could enable the company to expand its reach even further to cover a significant portion of mobile phones.
“By making Opera Mini available on Qualcomm’s BREW platform, we are able to offer a fast and cost efficient Web experience to millions of mobile phone users,”? Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner said.”
So what do you want us all to do Dave?
Go out and buy .coms for out of this world prices?
There’s no reason why Music.mobi can’t be more successful on the mobile web than Music.com, IMO!
Build a great site and they will come.
Would Music.com have sold for anywhere near $600k? Err….NO!
Don’t you get it or what?
THIS WORLD IS BIGGER THAN JUST .COM!!! END OF.
JMO.
“There’s no reason why Music.mobi can’t be more successful on the mobile web than Music.com, IMO!”
The main impediment to the success of dot Mobi as an alternative extension in competition with dot Com is the straight jacket format that is being imposed by the registry. Why would anyone want to be constrained in this way?
If you got for Dot Info you do not have these problems.
The basic concept of having a medium based extension all hung on the fact that PC sites could not be displayed suitably on mobile device. This entire premise has been shown to have been flawed. Now you are stuck with a White Elephant.
Nope, I’m not saying that PC sites cannot be displayed on a mobile device (iPhone).
nor am I saying that PC domains (.com) cannot be automatically redirected to a mobile site.
I’m also not saying that a PC domain cannot be branded for a mobile site, mobile.PC.com, mobi.PC.com, m.PC.com…
nor am I saying that Opera Mini cannot display PC sites as if they were mobile sites.
What I am saying is, .mobi is a domain name that I can use to build a website for mobile users.
.mobi is a domain name that others can use to build websites for mobile users.
.mobi is a domain name that businesses can brand their mobile site.
New web developers who are e.g. studying, who don’t have a ton of .com cash hidden under their bed, who want to make an impact on the mobile web, who have great ideas for mobile websites, CAN use .mobi!
To say that generic premium .mobi domains are practically worthless when a new generation of web-developers will be creating .mobi sites that people can use, is closed-minded and pathetic.
To expect the whole world to go and buy .com domains for all eternity is ludicrous.
To expect all .com sites out there to give mobile internet users a GREAT EXPERIENCE is silly, imo.
.mobi will give all mobile users a great experience. It just needs a little time to build a successful domain extension. Look how long it took for the other extensions to take off.
Mobile web traffic is going to make PC traffic look rather small in comparison. If the public choose .mobi as the best websites for your mobile then you can expect an extension that is far more valuable than even .com.
Maybe I sound crazy to you guys…but if there are enough web designers/investors like me out there who want to make a success of .mobi, then we can make it happen with or without .commers.
GET DEVELOPING .MOBIERS!
That’s all I have to say for now.
If .mobi takes off it will be because of the strong beliefs and determination of guys like DJ and I applaud that. On the other hand, it’s important to not get too caught up in any .com versus .mobi comparisons.
.com is not just a TLD, it is synonymous with an entire pop culture phenomenon and the #1 reason why most people will automatically default to .com when they try to remember a domain name. The masses always have the final say and the herd gets thumped every 20 years or so. For a long time, especially in the US, they will intuitively associate .com with the Internet.
Very interesting to follow these debates and developments. I have no .mobi domains (or .name or .bz or whatever) but I have a few .TV domains. I am under no illusion that this will be the domain of choice for internet TV. That’s how they used to hype it, I think (sound familiar?).
It will be interesting to see if this .mobi thing pans out. My guess is that is will not become a .name debacle. I think it will probably have some staying power more like .biz, or maybe .TV at best.
Either way, it is good to see another deep pocket newbie joining in the fray. Spanish IDN anyone?
I find this interesting to follow also.
There is one major fact that seems overlooked here.
.mobi is going to dominate both pc and mobil internet in the near future. Why? .mobi = global - no other TLD will even come close to is traffic before you know it.
I think it has almost caught up to .coms this week alone from all the headlines.
This guy is total newbie.
Even I consider myself a new face in the industry, and still need more than 24 hours a day to learn, but I can certainly say I have better domain sense.
Was taking a look in his portfolio:
st0cks.mobi
inf0.mobi
b1z.mobi
Now, I try not to enter into disputes about .mobi, it is a very heated area. I never invested in it, nor will I do.
Have to say that some keywords have value in any extention, and certainly there will be winners in .mobi, as well as losers.
But investing in typo domains in a tld that does get very light type in traffic…. that is suicidal. Even if it is about that $10 a year.
No domain sense at all.
But still he spent north of a mil or at least is trying to if sedo didn’t scam his bids.
This guy’s expertise in internet marketing and activity is phenomenal, he is a huge earner.
This guy knows now what the rest of the world is starting to catch onto - GLOBAL and .mobi is the future domination of the internet.
Besure to invest as much as you can while you can and tell all your friends they will thank you for it. Now is the last chance.
If you know anyone looking to bail out of their .mobis, please let me know, I would like to buy them.
I reflected much about investing in MOBI. My opinion is that the extension will grow as a niche - of course, it will never, and I mean, NEVER, reach the DOTCOM territory. But I do believe it can reach 1/10 value of dotcom within 1 year. What perplexes me - why so many people have great antipathy for this extension, more than any extension that I can remember. As a major dotcom investor, I also see this extension as an interloper, but I also recognize it can work with DOTCOM.
The next mobi auction in 2008 will be very interesting. For those who love MOBI, I warn this is very risky investment. You need development and marketing. For those who hate MOBI, I ask why do you care, unless you think it is a real threat, or is this a case of mobi-envy. I have no mobi-envy. Maybe these people do nice with their investment, or not. That is their choice. But we have no reason to attack them.
The reason the domain market seems so parochial is because domainers by and large are just not as sophisticated in comparison to silicon valley “start ups”. The reason the internet took off is because of the creative innovators and risk takers all over silicon valley and here we are today.
It is very likely .Mobi will bring more and better liquidity to this very illiquid market simply because outside the united states, .Mobi along with .TV are the only true universal extensions. Again, I assert that europeans, asians and africans really don’t care about .com and the new facebook generations cares even less!! in stock market terms, diversity is a virtue! We really need to be more creative and broad minded as a group of domainers if this illiquid market can survive. dotMobi has a fantastic future and dotCom may become intrinsically anachronistic!
That makes three of us then. Jay Westerdal also was an old Interland employee.
—-answer—-
Didn’t know that. they sure were good at picking up the best
Sahar
Robert Haastrup-Timmi
What are you tripping on? Dot Com is recognised Globally and is the biggest extension in most markets. Russia and Germany are notable exceptions, but even Russian IDN.com get substantial type-in.
TV is internationally recognised even where Latin characters are not used, but the extension itself has little traction.
Mobi means nothing in English let alone non-Latin Script Languages. Dot Mobi has zero public awareness, is not needed and because it imposes a format that is really no longer relevant to the development of the mobile internet is going to rapidly become intrinsically anachronistic, as you put it!
What if this guy ends up being the wiser. One never knows. I have respect for every extension. I have seen .us kick some .com butt in google ranking, it is all a matter of content.
I believe this guy made some smart moves. Lets not forget it is a tax right off!
Anyway, I have only 3 .mobi names, I am not a fanatic believer I am more like lets watch and see.
I have
IdentityProtection.mobi
MobileTracker.mobi
and
DOWS.mobi
I believe this 3 are enough mobi for me.
I stongly believe that as we go totally nuts on mobile phone, identity protection and theivery will become an issue.
Well this is my 25cents,
My response to David Wrixon, what am I tripping on:
David, again I assert that .Mobi has a great future and here’s why you should seriously re-evaluate your ambivalence!
Today, the majority of domain sales in the aftermarket are still confined to Domainers and not the broader corporate and business market in general. Take a look at Dnjournal.com and simply go through the weekly small cap sales list of afternic, snapnames etc..and you will find most of the buyers are the same domainers scooping up domains, or at best most of these domains end up being parking pages.
Now when a corporate buyer or any business buyer with development intent comes along, they pretty much splash out to get that domain regardless of what extension. For instance, i just sold Jazzon.tv to some guy in holland who obviously see’s the potential for .TV. Also for instance, track recent premium domain sales in .co.uk, the point being to the corporate or business buyer, the specific target market is what matters most.
Therefore, if corporate and business buyers begin to see and believe .Mobi is the ideal way to reach the massive mobile internet, perhaps because they believe it makes more sence or perhaps because the mLTD guy’s including google do a better marketing job to create a mobile standard with mobile networks, then trust me, .Mobi is what corporate buyers will purchase for the mobile market, and hence my guess is, that is what Alvaro is speculating on.
Have you also thought about something else really? .Mobi as a domain brand creates more barriers to entry against competition by comparison to .com that is so dilutive because its easy to slap up a webpage online. That raises the value of .Mobi overall. I wonder if the mLTD guy’s and google suspect this adds a great catalyst to the corporate market. Also notice that enom wants an annual premium payment on .TV premium names. The bottom line here is what you see in the future based on R&D.
Makes perfect sence really…diversify and buy .Mobi! .