Call me Ishmael. Go ahead, I dare you. Call me Ishmael, because frankly I'm at sea when it comes to understanding what the sponsors of the dot-mobi domain space were thinking. The mere dot-com, dot-net, and dot-org suffixes were not enough for them. They needed something that sounded epic, a whale of a good idea, and so they came up with their own top-level domain: .mobi. But beneath the surface lurks, well, not very much, really.

If you've missed the dot-mobi story so far, here's a quick summary: Back in May, the sponsors of a mobile top-level domain (mTLD) began sunrise preregistration of domain names with the delightful-sounding dot-mobi suffix. The sponsors of the domain space included all the big mobile players: Ericsson, Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, T-Mobile, and Vodafone. The idea was to create a domain space especially for mobile users, serving up pages specially designed for mobile platforms.

	No matter which way it works, the introduction of dot-mobi smacks of a whale of a marketing scheme.

A noble idea, for sure, but I frankly doubt that a top-level domain (TLD) is really a place to establish such a concept. If you've missed the TLD story so far, the dot-com, dot-net, and dot-org domains were designed to create separate spaces for different commercial enterprises, networks, and nonprofit organizations. The waters became muddy almost immediately. Individuals and companies register domains at will, either not knowing or not caring what the TLDs really mean. A welter of other domains came down the pike: dot-info and dot-museum, for example, but not all museums or information sources jump on these domains--after all, most museums are also nonprofits, so surely dot-org applies to them. Of all the top-level domains, only dot-edu and dot-gov seem to have remained pure.

So what's a Web content provider to think? Should they register a dot-mobi domain to protect a trademark? Or should they concentrate on making mobile-friendly sites and promote them in some other way? That's up to them, of course, but I have my own opinion.

Real dot-mobi sites
Of course, the real way to attract mobile users to mobile Web services is to design your Web site well for a handheld device. Having spent months at a time launching and relaunching Web sites over the past decade-plus, I can hear the collective groan from Web creative teams. But as every tourist board knows, if you want the visitors, you have to make the destination appealing.

	Of all the top-level domains, only dot-edu and dot-gov seem to have remained pure.

As things stand, the Net comes in a limited form to mobile users. Verizon clients see the Web through Get It Now-colored spectacles. Sprint folk know the Web only as PCS Vision, Cingular users as Media Net, and T-Mobile users as T-zones. The problem with these services is that their interfaces and content vary, and you can't always access your Web mail or your online calendar due to software incompatibilities.

Fortunately, lots of Web sites have been putting in the effort to attract people by creating really mobile-friendly sites. Newshounds need only go to Reuters mobile, or Google News mobile, or perhaps BusinessWeek or BBC on a BlackBerry to see how to do it right. Google does a good job because it strips down the news pages from outside sites into a mobile-friendly format.

If you have some spare hours to while away in the back of a cab, mobile Web search is getting better, too, with strong showings from the XHTML version of Google, the Answers.com mobile, and the WAP version of Yahoo.

Of course, the real way to attract mobile users to mobile Web services is to design your Web site well for a handheld device.

With the real work of integrating more advanced Web services, such as Web mail, IM, contact address books, calendars, and photos, Yahoo has done yeoman's work with its Yahoo Go for Mobile service, which integrates Yahoo portal services with mobile phones. But it deserves wider penetration; unfortunately, when CNET reviewed the service, it was limited to Symbian OS phones in the Nokia 60 series and available only via Cingular.

Of course, none of these sites has much to do with dot-mobi as a top-level domain. Perhaps a year down the line, all these links will just redirect to a dot-mobi address, or perhaps the dot-mobi addresses will all redirect to them.

No matter which way it works, the introduction of dot-mobi smacks of a whale of a marketing scheme. Is this really just another excuse for domain registrars to get their 15 bucks from us and for ICANN and the consortium of mobile companies to get their slice of the pie? Because that's how it seems, and that smells much too fishy for my tastes.

Do you have any favorite mobile Web sites? Do you think Matt Lake is the other half of Herman Melville's magnum opus? Call him "Ishmael" in the feedback section below.