.Mobi registration base falls 10%

Data released by ICANN shows that compared to last year, the number of .mobi registrations has dropped from 946,357 to 850,712– a decrease of almost 10%.

The drop is due to a fall in .mobi aftermarket sale prices. Speculators bought up .mobi names like crazy when the extension was launched, but since it hasn’t taken off, have relinquished their investments.

Personally, I don’t think .mobi has much of a future. While it is true that more and more people are browsing the web from mobile devices, many sites are now automatically optimized for smartphones and PDAs. There is no reason for each site on the web to have a separate mobile version.