Everyone is the domain name industry is quite aware of the history of the .Mobi TLD and the various stories behind it.

The .Mobi Registry started selling domains in 2006 at the TRAFFIC auction even before launching.

Now it seems its*deja vu all over again, as four applicants are going for very similar new gTLD’s.

There are three applications for .Mobile that would be .Mobi +le and one application for .Mobily which is .Mobi + ly.

Now beyond the question of how ICANN would ever approve these extensions when the ICANN Guidebook clearly says that new gTLD cannot be confusingly similar to an existing TLD, how do these applicants hope to compete against an incumbent, shorter TLD?

The question is even more interesting when you consider the applicants.

Amazon is one of the applicants for .mobile as well as the domain industry veterans that comprise Donuts, Inc.

According to the most recently filed Registry report with ICANN for February 2012, there are 1,038,210 registered .Mobi domain names.…



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