Ronald

24.com have successfully secured the 24.mobi mobile domain name, making it the first South African company and first publisher worldwide to be awarded a .mobi domain name with only two alphanumeric characters.

dotMobi, the company behind .mobi — the only Internet address created specifically for locating content that works on all mobile phones – began allocating .mobi domain names with one and two alphanumeric characters earlier this year. dotMobi is one of the very few registries who have made one and two character names available.

The registration of the 24.mobi domain is an innovative and progressive move for 24.com as short .mobi domain names are highly sought after by companies who want to extend their brand with brief, memorable Web addresses.

“South Africa is one of the leading countries in adopting the .mobi domain. That’s why it’s exciting to see South Africa’s 24.com becoming the first news portal in the world to advertise its mobile site with a two-digit .mobi domain — 24.mobi. Like its PC sister, 24.mobi is bound to be a major destination for all South Africans to get relevant news and lifestyle information,” said Trey Harvin, CEO of dotMobi, the company behind the .mobi domain that helps consumers find content that works on mobile phones, regardless of operator or handset.

One and two-letter mobi addresses are only allocated to companies who have successfully completed a proposal and contract process with DotMobi.

“24.com is pleased to have been able to secure the 24.mobi domain.” said JP Farinha, CEO of 24.com. “It is an important enabler in extending our leadership position from the PC to the mobile Internet, and allows us to present a clear mobile brand to our audience. We are constantly looking at ways to improve the mobile Internet experience for our customers and the .mobi domain is a great way to do that.”

24.mobi replaces m24.com as the home of 24.com’s mobile products and services including popular brands such as News24, Sport24, Fin24 and Channel24. Traffic on the site continues to set new records with more than 135 000 unique browsers and 2 million page impressions recorded in July.

Look out for a fresh new look and lots of added functionality – coming soon to 24.mobi.