dotMobi offers free "City.mobi" names

650 city names reserved

10 July 2007 7:09 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

dotMobi, the company behind .mobi - the first and only internet address designed specifically for mobile phones - has announced that it is making approximately 650 city names available for free to city governments.

Until today, dotMobi has kept these names on reserve to ensure that they would be available for cities to develop relevant content for locals and for tourists.

"With thousands of .mobi sites now live and more than 575,000 domains registered, consumers now understand that sites built on the .mobi domain give them the freedom to take the internet with them, wherever they go", said Neil Edwards, CEO of dotMobi.

"dotMobi gives consumers low-cost access to information they need, where and how they need it. Cities will be able to use their .mobi sites to provide important city-related information to local citizens."

"These sites will also be able to provide compelling local information for visitors and help increase local tourist dollars", Edwards added.

The first city to trial the process was Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki's investment promotion agency, Greater Helsinki Promotion, created http://Helsinki.mobi and is also responsible for its continued development and marketing.

City names are being made available for local governments or their designees for an initial period of two years with provisions for renewing the names.

To apply, qualified entities submit a short proposal that discusses how the planned domain use provides the mobile community with new features, services and local content. The proposal must also address marketing and promotion plans.

dotMobi will evaluate all proposals, and successful applicants will enter into a contract with dotMobi. The application process opens August 20, 2007, and continues indefinitely.

The full list of available .mobi city name domains plus proposal process information can be found via the link below.

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Software, Apps, Websites, Biz, Yahoo, Dotmobi