Mobile technology company DotMobi is banking on the idea that cities want their Web sites to be usable via cell phone.
The firm, which has headquarters in Dublin and its U.S. base in D.C., has devoted an entire Internet domain toward content compatible with cell phone interfaces.
Web sites using the “.mobi” domain rather than “.com” or “.net” meet a certain set of standards so they are easily navigable by cell phone, said Vance Hedderel, the company’s director of public relations.
The company has reserved 650 URLs with city names for municipal governments to use.
Hedderel said the company is banking on the fact that city governments will want their sites available for tourism purposes, or to make online city resources available to citizens via mobile phone.
It’s too early to predict whether the D.C. area will be among those who sign up for the service, Hedderel said; the company will begin accepting applications from municipalities Aug. 20.
Interested governments pay a fee to DotMobi, which goes over the application to ensure the government will be putting up content within 60 days and meeting the proper requirements, and then register the domain for a monthly fee.
Helsinki, Finland, was a pilot user of the program and has created Helsinki.mobi to promote the region as a tourism destination, Hedderel said.
Already a popular trend abroad, cell phone-compatible Internet content is becoming more popular in the United States.
This is particularly true now that the iPhone has hit the market, said Kate Robinson, vice president of business development for Los Angeles-based JuiceCaster, which has developed a social networking device for cell phones.
“The mobile Web is not the same as a desktop experience, so unless you were a very high-tech adopter, you may not venture into it and may have been intimidated by it,” Robinson said. “The iPhone really does revolutionize things.”
