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dotMobi, the company behind .mobi - the first and only Internet address designed specifically for mobile phones - today announced its plans to create a definitive database of mobile handset information from across the world.

The dotMobi mobile device database, scheduled to launch in late 2007, will make developing mobile applications significantly easier and less expensive. While developers of PC-based content need to address differences between a small number of browsers like Windows Internet Explorer or Apple Safari, mobile content developers must accommodate the differences among thousands of phones with different display types and browsers.

The database will provide structured data, accurate to a degree not found in existing public resources. Information will be obtained from - as well as shared with - the global development community and published online. This will simplify the development process and enable developers to create the very best experience for users, based on comprehensive and reliable intelligence.

To that end, dotMobi has appointed mobile industry leader Andrea Trasatti as Director of Device Initiatives. Trasatti will be responsible for delivering dotMobi's new mobile device database to developers globally. Previously, Trasatti co-founded and managed the Wireless Universal Resource File (WURFL), the well-known community project containing information on hundreds of mobile phones.

Trasatti is also an active participant in the W3C Mobile Web Initiative's Device Descriptions Working Group, which is developing specifications for an application programming interface (API) to access and manage device data. The dotMobi mobile device database will adhere to those recommendations.

Reinhard Kreft, Vodafone's Global Head of Industry Initiatives and Standardisation, said, "Vodafone is excited to see dotMobi take on this initiative. Given dotMobi's unique industry position at the crossroads between the internet and the mobile phone, it is appropriate that dotMobi leads the way for developers to easily deploy mobile content."

"dotMobi has long recognized the challenges facing mobile developers who want to ensure that their services work well on a range of mobile phones," said Neil Edwards, CEO of dotMobi, "As the company at the core of the mobile internet, we have both the responsibility and the skill to help bring accurate, reliable, community-driven intelligence about mobile handsets to developers. This will allow developers to craft sites and services that cater for the broad portfolio of diverse handsets around the globe, regardless of the phone those users own."

Related topics: DNS, Domain Registries, Mobile, Top-Level Domains