arab used to chat and type arabic in english letters because many arab abroad don't have arabic keyboards
and the arabic letters which don't have an english equivalent in pronounciation are substituted with english numbers like the third letter here
a ا
l ل
3 ع
a ا
b ب
and because IDNs weren't available arab used to register and sell these kind of domains
and all arabic domains forums are full of such names
for example check this new list for sale
http://www.nameclub.com/forum14/thread996.html#post2562
there are tons of them ......
can you imagine that arab still registering these names instead of IDNs
someone just registered
http://3rb.mobi
I think all these names will be invaluable in the near future and IDNs will be the end result