Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

Aug. 10, 2008

dotMobi, the company behind the .mobi domain and Web address system for mobile-specific content, is attracting new customers to its DeviceAtlas mobile device database, but for unexpected reasons.

Paul Nerger, v.p. of Advanced Services and Applications at dotMobi said "in the beginning, when dotMobi designed DeviceAtlas, it was interested in targeting the long tail of the mobile Internet community and developers."

He added "but even though they may have their own in-house databases, larger mobile Websites are showing interest in DeviceAtlas just the same."

On Aug. 7, dobMobi announced that Microsoft’s MSN Mobile group will use DeviceAtlas to help develop and deliver mobile-aware content for its customers.

International call provider Morodo also was announced as customer of DeviceAtlas. The company offers a VoIP service for low-cost international calls from a mobile phone.

The database was built for content adaptation, so that MIDs (mobile Internet devices) applications could work on many phones rather than being built for a single or a few devices.

But nearly half who purchase licenses are using it just for analytics. For example, a site owner might want to know what percentage of devices has GPS or the 10 most popular devices visiting the site.

Essentially, dotMobi is backed mostly by wireless operators, network and device manufacturers and Internet content providers, including Ericsson, GSM Association, Hutchison, Orascom Telecom, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, TIM and Vodafone.

Currently, dotMobi offers DeviceAtlas for free to mobile Internet content developers worldwide, with low-cost versions available for enterprise use.

Overall, DeviceAtlas contains attribute information for more than 5,500 devices around the world, including devices like the Apple iPhone, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, Nintendo DS Lite and Amazon Kindle.

The database includes anything with a browser, including a Samsung refrigerator.

dotMobi’s goal is to break even on its offerings. It’s more interested in encouraging development for the mobile Internet. Nevertheless, these past two quarters, it has come in ahead of plans, Nerger said.

Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

    This article was featured on Business 5.0.

Source: dotMobi.