Dotmobi started its sunrise period on June 12, where owners of intellectual property could register domain names in .mobi. Big brands such as Virgin, Target, eBay and Ferrari were the first in line when registrations started. Within two hours, a large number of prominent brands had secured their .mobi domain names.
Companies registering a .mobi include Virgin Group, eBay, VISA, American Express, Target, Wal-Mart, ESPN, Saab, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Rolex, Ziff Davis Publishing, Dolce & Gabbana, and many more.
According to Dotmobi, around 2,000 domain names were registered during a Limited Industry Sunrise in May, while around 5,000 domain names were registered the first two days of the regular Sunrise period, which will last for 70 days altogether.
Dotmobi is the informal name of mTLD, or mobile Top Level Domain Ltd. It says it has the backing of many of the world’s leading mobile operators, handset manufacturers, and software developers, and it was designated as the official worldwide registry for the .mobi domain by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in July 2005.
Dotmobi backers include Ericsson, GSM Association, Hutchison 3, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, TIM, and Vodafone. It is also a sponsor of W3C’s Mobile Web Initiative.
