Another Mobile Top Level Domain?
Smart Mobs is reporting that the top level domain .mp is "open for business" as a domain designation for mobile phones. This surprised me, since ICANN hasn't approved any new top level domains, and the original request for such a domain had been for .mobi. Turns out that .mp is yet-another-random-small-country that has sold off their TLD for its chance at riches (similar to Tuvalu and the .tv domain). So, whether it's .mp or the as-yet-not-approved .mobi, it still raises the original question: do we need it? Do we really want to have an entirely separate TLD for mobile websites? It seems like a bad idea... "forking" the web into content for "the web" and for "mobile phones" while also making companies cough up money to some random company for yet another TLD. As wireless networks and devices get more powerful, it's going to matter less and less. People will be able to access the full web on their mobile phones (already, this is becoming feasible) and specialized mobile versions will get less interest -- or, at the least, websites will become "mobile-aware" and know to display sites for smaller screens and less bandwidth when they recognize a request from a mobile client. There doesn't seem much room for an extra mobile top level domain, and it's likely surfers will mostly ignore it as well.
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