With the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing scheduled to kick-off on Friday 8th August, speculation is mounting as to whether or not the often gossiped about flagship dot.mobi site for the city, beijing.mobi, will finally be unveiled.
The mTLD or dot.mobi consortium has, since its inception, focussed heavily on developing city mobile sites, with barcelona.mobi following the initial helsinki.mobi development.
One of the touted strategies of the consortium is to synchronise city.mobi launches with prominent events, and the 2008 Olympics could not offer a better platform for this, given the substantial amount of publicity (both postive and negative) that the games have attracted this year. Much of this media frenzy will peak this month, offering a great opportunity for mTLD to achieve a truly global launch for the site.
It would also help to stave off critics and sceptics alike, who have pointed out how the m.dot domain still remains predominant in North America.It would also give the whole dot.mobi movement a shot in the arm at a time when its main shareholders (the mobile operators and equipment manufacturers) are increasingly coming head-to-head with each other in their attempt to retain (or attain) control over the mobile subscriber.
