A long way to go but numbers already look strong for .xxx sunrise registrations.
The .xxx sunrise registration period is less than a week old, but ICM Registry CEO Stuart Lawley told Domain Name Wire “I think it is safe to say that we have ‘comfortably exceeded’ our internal estimates” via email today.
Lawley goes on to write:
The response to the unprecedented media coverage last week was immediate and strong and we are surprised at the level of applications at this early stage of the process from all phases of the Sunrise, AT, AD and B have all exceeded our expectations.
Read this post for an explanation of what each of these sunrise options are. You can see how much registries are charging for each sunrise option here.
The .xxx buzz should only increase. Stuart says the company is about to push into high gear:
Our systems are humming along just fine and the automated member validation is working smoothly and we look forward to releasing our TV and online series of commercials starting tomorrow, which should further generate interest and buzz.
We have a series of trade shows we are attending over the next few weeks in Amsterdam, Prague, London, Munich, Berlin followed by the TRAFFIC show in Fort Lauderdale where we are primary sponsor and at which we are holding our launch party on Monday 17th that promises to be quite the event.
I’m with Kevin Murphy — I’m not surprised by the response so far.
Ms Domainer says
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I wonder how many of these will simply be defensive registrations.
I suspect that a lot of smaller companies may be unaware of this TLD and may end up being unpleasantly surprised if a porn monger registers their TMs.
Larger companies are likely running scared; this TLD will make the bulk of its profits through legal extortion. The only difference between the Mafia and the .xxx registry:
Hmmm, not much difference at all.
Hello, lawsuits!
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Andrew Allemann says
@ Ms Domainer – I don’t think smaller companies have much to worry about. If someone wants to cybersquat their name they’ll have to pay about $100 a year. That’s rich.
Ms Domainer says
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Don’t you think that the registry will eventually drop the registration fee?
History of past new TLDs have borne this out. In just about every case, registrars have figured out that they make more money through bulk regs and bragging rights to numbers of regs.
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Andrew Allemann says
@ Ms Domainer – eventually, yes.