ICANN’s decision to liberalize the process for adding new TLDs won’t have much of an affect on you, unless you manage trademarks.
Today ICANN voted to liberalize the process and acceptance of new top level domains (similar to .info and .asia). What does this mean to the average domainer and internet user? Despite the mainstream media sensationalizing this (.sex is coming!), I doubt it will add up to much.
Trademark lawyers will have busy dockets. Depending on how these new TLDs are doled out and the rules tied to them, trademark lawyers will have to register a whole slew of new domain names. Also, companies are going to have to get equivalents (when possible) to their domains in IDN tlds as they are rolled out. Busy times ahead. Managing this is a good business opportunity for those companies that help corporations obtain ccTLDs across the globe.
.Com owners have nothing to worry about. Don’t look for many of these new extensions to take off, and they certainly won’t usurp .com. If nothing else, global confusion will make .com stronger. I don’t understand why the mainstream press keeps predicting we’ll see microsoft.microsoft. Why is that any better than microsoft.com? And if Microsoft were to get cute with my.microsoft, they’d still have to go out and register mymicrosoft.com for protection.
Consumers will be confused. Remember when I saw a billboard advertising att.jobs and did a double take before realizing it was a URL
? You’re going to see a lot more of that.
Alternative TLDs and glorified ccTLDs will be in the tanker. .biz and .info will probably take a hit. I also see glorified ccTLDs, such as .ws and .me (if you fell for that one) falling in value (if there was much value to begin with). .Com and .org will still be strong, and I think .net will be OK as well.
“Landrush” will become a cliche. I’m already tired of seeing ads for a “landrush” for each TLD. Are they seriously advertising .me as a “landrush”? The only domains worth investing in are a few obscene.me domains. With each new TLD that is not a “limited” TLD (the example frequently given is .ibm or .microsoft), we’re going to see ads for a “landrush”. They should just be called “fools gold period”.
I propose calling these vTLDs (Vanity TLDs) because that is exactly what they are.
Recently I posted that one of the sillier domain buys I made when I started domaining was my extensive purchase of tldlist.com, tldvalue.com, tldsquatter.com etc, etc.. ad nauseum.
I thought that TLD meant a top level domain as in “a really good domain”! I didn’t get that it was the extension! Needless to say, perhaps one of the mistakes I made will actually have a payoff after all. I am starting to see some development opportunities!
Domaining is a wild ride.
I actually had thought about this concept a couple of years ago and thought it would be a great idea: Let anyone register anything they want for a domain name and extension.
But now with this story, I see how it can also lead to chaos in some areas and a huge revenue boost for registrars. Soon everyone will be able to have that keyword domain they have always wanted, just with different extensions.
Interesting…!
Newbie domain speculators with “invest” heavily and Chinese cybersquatters will register all the TM names they can find. Both will be big losers.
Secondly, High end generic domain holders might see an effect.
Why would disney spend millions on Resorts.com when they can get their own extension for MUCH MUCH less and just go with Resorts.disney.
They don’t need resorts.com.
Why would any car company need NewCars.com when they can just create NewCars.toyota?
PS Frank Shilling can finally get his .web.
ICANN cannot supervise the universe that it has created now, as we recently saw with the collapse of RegisterFly.
What is going to happen when extensions (not merely registrars) start collapsing?
With almost 300,000 rogue DNS servers corrupting the DNS system, ICANN has more pressing tasks than to invade Russia.
Rob:
Unless someone owns a brand as internationally known as Disney or Toyota, they stand a snowball’s chance in hell of stamping their vTLD into the public’s conciousness.
The high end generic domain owners have nothing to worry about. If anything, they stand to capture more default dotCom traffic from people trying to remember all of these names.
@ NoNamesForSale – good point. We already almost lost .travel (not that anyone would have noticed). Hopefully ICANN will require registry data escrow.
@ David – I’ll support the vTLD idea.
The organization and logical structure behind the internet (based on language) will experience a setback. We already have clear examples of “new” tld’s not being readily accepted. Gradual adoption of tld’s, in increments, is the only non-com strategy that has worked. There’s no rationale to flood the existing working structure of the net with more arbitrary extensions.
I can’t wait to buy out the golfing niche in Colorado:
golf.colorado
colorado.golf
golfing.colorado
colorado.golfing
golfer.co
co.golfer
golf.co
co.golf
co.golfing
golfing.co
And hundreds and hundreds more….it will be so fun.
Each, obviously will be loaded with tons of direct navigation traffic and I will be getting them for $1 each. LOL
I smell a collapse a comin’. (except .sex)
All the talk is of companies buying up these domains to make a quick buck. What about the fact that this offers a great opportunity to do some good, like setting up a fairtrade domain where all revenues flowing through a tld are subject to a fairtrade element which is then administered to charities.
The debate has already been started on Facebook. Please add to to the group here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18711156732
Andrew: Cool.
Mass tlds = mass confusion = flight to the known, recognized, and accepted = strengthened .com
As for “Land Rush” ; let’s just call it what it really is:
The English language’s (and domain world’s) latest oxymoron.
I think you will see http://www.microsoft or would just typeing microsoft work?
@ LIam – the way most browser work now, if you just typed in http://www.microsoft it would automatically go to http://www.microsoft.com.
I predict a net result of zero — just as we saw with the addition of .BIZ, .MODI and .TRAVEL and numerous others. All were expected to be huge and to alleviate the overcrowded .COM arena. All fizzled and went nowhere. Oh, and that is without a complete dilution occurring at the same time.
The net needs room to grow. Its current naming structure is ill-thought out and was inadequate from day one. Never in Jon Postel’s wildest dreams did he expect a usage trend as we are now experiencing. Just think about how the net has grown since his death in 1998. Out of necessity, ICANN has attempted to provide that desperately needed room by broadening the playing field; and, now, westward expansion may (just may) be available to those seeking a presence.
This will not, however, stop .COMs from continuing to act as oceanfront real estate just as construction in Arizona does nothing to decrease the value of oceanfront homes.
Location, location, location.
.CC was heavily promoted by NetSol, .TV by Directnic and .MOBI by GoDaddy. No one wanted them. Same with non-English language character domains which were heavily promoted by NetSol in 1999. Those who invested in them saw little return, if any.
Why does the world insist on .COM? Because that’s what the Fortune 500 all have. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Why does that matter? Well, they constitute 8 out of 10 commercials we see on a daily basis; and, as a result, we tv watchin’ folk get subliminally brainwashed into associating .COM with a quality website.
Go ahead and ask a random room full of people to name their single favorite website. I’ll give you $1,000,000 for every non-.Com you hear. Oh, don’t worry for me, I won’t be handing over any money.
Same scenario with New.Net which has been offering the vanity names for years.
Only time will tell, but I’m not ready to give up on .COM yet.
Disclaimer: The above is my opinion only and not necessarily that of the station’s owners, management or advertisers. True, I saw this referenced at http://www.SubliminalMessages.Com and my eyes were screaming bloody murder at the time, but I nevertheless feel strongly that .COM will be the de facto “King of the Domains” for a long time to come.
As the online business grows, we need new lands, else it will be too tight. New domains are welcome, but only those that ring the bells in the consumers ears will make it through.
Watch number of .me sites doubling every second week. Now, they took over .asia. Buy.its.me, pizza4.me, remortgage.me are impossible to forget. Buyitsme.com, pizza4me.net and remortgageme.biz are just not the same.
Brands are ruling this consumers, not vice versa.
With 250,000 .me domains registered in less than a year, this is indeed a great success.
More to come.