What has happened with all the fuss with the .mobi domains?

I believe it was all some sort of a promotional haux.

Well, it's only the beginning.
What with ICANN having approved TLD creation under much less stricter rules, there will be an influx of new useless tld's like .me/.mobi.

My theory is that since many domainers always jump on new tld's to get premiums, in hoping for a "next .com", there is a lot of profit in new tld's still.
What domainers need to do is completely ignore new tld's.. We should not buy or sell any new tld's..
The only thing we need is .com/net/org and cctld for localization.

Another consideration is the mass confusion for the average internet user who is not educated on domains.. The last thing we need is a bunch of new ones to promote.. ICANN is so dumb, but so smart, and evil for trying to rack in on domainers hopes.

.me is for the country of Montenegro (just to clarfiy) it's a ccTLD NOT a gTLD like com/net/org/mobi they are just trying to brand it like a gTLD as .tv has done (Tuvalu)

yeah. I'm aware of that..
But, the massive hype from various registrars like godaddy etc made .me something more than a cctld..

The problem is they are going to try to hype every new tld like this, in the future when this new creation process is complete.
This will in turn lead to more buying of domains, and less development of actual useful sites.
ICANN knows this, but by the time every other domainer realizes, they will already have spent the money.

A TLDs success is measured usually in amount of sites developed on it, and what is most known/famous because of that.. With these new tld's people are just going to park them, and it's so useless and a huge waste of money for everyone. The hype will keep up profit for a little bit, and then if little sites are developed on the tld, it will die. And I predict this is exactly what will happen to most tld's in the future.

The problem with all these new tlds is that trademark holders are pretty much forced to buy their domain in each one, just to protect their holdings, i.e. pepsi.me, etc.

It's not exactly price gouging, but it's a form of extortion, I think. There really should only be com/org/net, and the cc tlds. None of this .info, .biz, .name, nonsense.

Legally speaking, large companies or companies who operate in certain sectors need to protect their names. So while I do agree for many domainers out there it is price gouging and a money-making idea (not scam) from ICANN. Other companies who are protecting their assets simply need to purchase all TLDs. I am sure however, that if you owned all the domain extensions and someone offered to purchase the .com/org/net for a large amount then you were able to turn around and say well what about .info/biz/name/mobi you would be singing a much different tune as you walked to your local bank.

The TLD game is indeed a bit like pulling money out of thin air.

However, I do think .me domains are worthwhile, and this is why I got in on it. A few reasons....

First .me is shorter than .com by one letter. Every letter counts, especially if the suffix means something.

Second, .me actually means something. When you couple it with a verb in front, it can be a powerful brand. Imagine "insure.me" as a complete name, as opposed to "insure" + .mobi.

Second, the auctions have been very successful, meaning many people/companies have poured in lots of money into this. When there's lots of money vested, these companies/people will do whatever they can to market their domains. .TV could've been successful, but wasn't, mostly because their renewal fees are just as expensive as the initial purchase price.