Sedo-run auction generates high interest and revenue, and demonstrates diversity of upcoming mobile content

dotMobi successfully closed its first-ever online auction on October 3. dotMobi auctioned 100 domain names through Sedo.com, and is the first domain company to offer selected names directly to the market via an online auction process rather than a traditional “first come, first served” process.

Dozens of names were purchased, and more than US$850,000 generated for the continued creation of mobile content tools like dotMobi’s popular ready.mobi and site.mobi tools.

With bidders from 34 countries, the auction’s most desired names were hosting.mobi (sold for $101,000), bank.mobi ($51,501), download.mobi ($51,500), currency.mobi ($47,000) and insurance.mobi ($42,005).

insurance.mobi was purchased by Insurance.com, an independent, online insurance agency which enables consumers to instantly compare and buy competitive auto insurance quotes directly from more than a dozen leading insurance companies. “We see the long-term value of the mobile internet,” said Joe Singleton, Director of Information Technology, Insurance.com. “The .mobi domain will be a valuable tool in continuing to build our future consumer offerings.”

“With more than 1.6 billion mobile users around the world, it’s obvious that brands are quickly realizing that the audience for mobile content is enormous,” said David Ryder, dotMobi’s Chief Marketing Officer. “This auction proves that dotMobi has some of the most-wanted domain names in the world, and it’s exciting to start seeing how they’ll be used for content.”

Tim Schumacher, CEO of Sedo, said, “We knew that the dotMobi’s premium names portfolio would be a success on the Sedo platform; however, the results of this auction went beyond our expectations. We are now even more excited about our upcoming .mobi auction on October 31 when names like car.mobi, gps.mobi, gay.mobi, kiss.mobi, love.mobi and map.mobi will be available.”

The complete list of names for the October 31 Sedo auction, along with terms, condition and buyer requirements, are available at premiumauction.mobi.

About dotMobi

dotMobi (the informal name of mTLD Top Level Domain, Ltd.), a consortium based in Dublin, Ireland with offices in Washington, DC and Beijing, is leading the growth of Internet use from mobile phones with the .mobi domain name. Unique among domain name providers, dotMobi ensures that services and sites developed around .mobi are optimized for use by mobile devices. On-the-go consumers can have confidence that an Internet site or service will work on their mobile phones when using a .mobi address.

dotMobi is backed by leading mobile operators, network & device manufacturers, and internet content providers, including Ericsson, GSM Association, Hutchison 3, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, TIM, Visa and Vodafone. dotMobi is also a sponsor of W3C’s Mobile Web Initiative.

For more information on dotMobi domains and registration information, visit dotmobi.mobi. Visit the dotMobi blog at blog.mobi.

About Sedo

Sedo, an acronym for “Search Engine for Domain Offers,” is the leading online marketplace for buying and selling domain names and websites. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world’s largest database of domain names for sale, with more than seven million listings. The success of Sedo’s model has attracted a global membership base of more than 350,000 domain professionals. Sedo is majority-owned by AdLINK Group (ISIN DE0005490155 / German WKN: 549015), which is part of the German United Internet AG (ISIN DE0005089031/ WKN 508903). Sedo offers regional versions of its site for the UK (Sedo.co.uk), France (Sedo.fr), Germany (Sedo.de), and Spain (Sedo.com).

For additional information, please visit www.sedo.com.

This news release was sourced from mtld.mobi/node/834