Land rush for pure numeric domains in Singapore (746427673)

(Before y'all get excited, 746427673.com (Singapore.com) is taken by Worddial.)

Pure numeric domains aren't register-able in many countries. The reason is because in the early days of the internet it was thought that a purely numeric url would be confused with a numeric ip address by computer systems. That paranoia has carried over into the present.

Soon, the national domain name registry in Singapore will allow pure numeric domain registration for the first time. It's no big whoop except that some people on the sidelines are finally catching on to what we at Jamptap have been talking about for a while. Writes a blogger with insidedomaining.blogspot.com:

'Numeric domains used for the mobile internet could be an effective mobile internet marketing tool. It's easier typing in numbers on a cell phone's handset compared to the hassle of typing in letter characters on a mobile phone's keypad. Numeric domains could also be used as vanity domain names in a similar way vanity phone numbers are used. Two digit numeric domain names will be aggressively sought after and perhaps the numeric keypad translations of popular keywords. The iPhone has a dot-com button for faster access to the mobile web...'

Good thinking! With all this talk of reducing our carbon footprints by lowering the energy consumption of servers and cars and buildings, how about reducing the number of taps applied by the hundreds of millions of SMS and mobile web users worldwide. Think of all the calories saved! Calories come from food. Food takes energy to grow. Energy is created at the cost of global warming and the polar bears. So, we're talking about saving polar bears by starting to use numeric keypad translations of popular keywords and also brands like Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, Google, etc... Type in 466453.com instead of g-ooo-ooo-g-lll-ee (4666666455533) (and dot com) and you can feel better that you're doing your part to ensure the survival of our white, furry friends in the artic. (There's more than an ounce of truth in what I'm saying if you really think about it.)

Great frustrations on an un-shoestring budget

Eric Schmidt of Google at 2007 third-quarter earnings call:

"On the mobile search side, our mobile searches are increasing rapidly compared to a year ago. They are growing more quickly than non-mobile searches. They are still a very small percentage of total searches, which is of great frustration to us...' [Emphasis ours]

Here's the answer to your troubles, Schmidt:



Remember Google Number Search?

466453 now has a logo!

I found this logo that some talented person posted on their blog:

HERE

What is the significance of 466453? Each digit corresponds respectively to letters in the word 'Google' on your cell phone keypad. When entering the url 466453.com on your cell phone, it goes to Google.com. That saves you a bunch of multi-tapping.

Google apparently isn't ready to share this knowledge far and wide since it is still pointing mobile users towards a version of the traditional url (google.com).

Faire du Jobing

A few tiny new pieces of information about numeric domains:

* A few weeks or months ago - I can't remember - Worddial's SEARCH portal (732724.com) added AOL Search and ASK.com. Worddial.com also now has Google ads on their homepage (yes, Google ads on the homepage of their business website).

* A motivated and impassioned numeric domain buff and author of the article 'The Rise of Numeric Domains' has a new blog : onspec.typepad.com

Wish there was more to tell. Happy October!