Dot NYC much more restricted than Dot London.
Two .city domain names are getting ready to enter their first phase of rollout: .London and .NYC.
This will be a big moment in the new top level domain name program. Many people, including myself, think .city domain names have the biggest chance for success. Despite being much smaller than London and New York City, .berlin has already captured close to 50,000 registrations (although many of those were given away for free).
Dot London enters its first phase on April 29 with Dot NYC following May 5. How the two will roll out and offer their domains differs greatly.
Anyone will be able to register a .london domain name, but you’ll need nexus in New York City to register a .nyc domain.
This is a huge difference. Domain registrants have easily gotten around nexus requirements in the past, but it is certainly a big encumbrance to the typical registrant who doesn’t actually have nexus. It also limits resale opportunities because a New York City resident can’t sell domains to someone outside the city.
.London has no nexus requirements, sharing a completely different philosophy:
London is a global city, welcoming residents and visitors from around the world. Its online counterpart, the Dot London domain, will equally be available around the globe. It is open to everybody who is interested in London either because they are based in London or because they have an affiliation to or an interest in the city.
London businesses and residents will get first dibs on domains during the initial phase, however. Anyone can apply for a domain during the “London Priority Period”, but domains will be allocated with four priorities:
1. Registered trademark holders
2. London businesses and individuals registering their own names
3. London businesses and individuals registering other names
4. Non-Londoners
After the priority period anyone can register domains on a first-come, first-served basis.
It will be interesting to see how the nexus requirements and different launch procedures affect registrations.
London & New York are major global brands in themselves. Once their respective domains are launched that should translate into major demand for them. Nexus requirements will impede .NYC to an extent but .London should see a massive global proliferation which is great for London and its partner Minds + Machines.
The revenue potentials here on such global demand will be mouthwatering for the operators
Will be interesting to see how nexus affect Google local results in the long run . .
Interesting point. If .NYC is restricted to the city, I’d think Google would give it more credence on local searches in the city.
The question would be: how popular would .berlin be if they didn’t give so many .berlin domains away for free? Would it still be a top 10 gTLD?
IMO I don’t really think .london will be that popular (unless they give it away for free to residents from London as well). They all are used to .co.uk there (93% of UK names are CO.UK). They are not going to jump on the bandwagon of the new gTLD’s (besides I don’t think there’s a bandwagon effect to start with?).
New Yorkers on the other hand are more open-minded when it comes to new domain extensions than people from the UK (I think) and I think a lot of New Yorkers will buy an .NYC domain just to stand out from the crowd.
Domainers obviously aren’t going to invest in this extension since it’s too restricted but I don’t think it matters since NY is a big city with almost 9 million people living there so they could make a nice profit on this extension merely from all the businesses/people in New York who will be getting a .NYC domain.
Time will tell I guess.
NYC’s metro area has about 25 million people, yet it appears the nexus is limited to the city limits. I suspect this will eliminate a lot of people who consider themselves New Yorkers. You could work in the city but not be eligible to register.
London has a metro population of over 13M although many from the affluent South East region of have an affinity to the Capital City making the actual target market a multiple of that. Obviously that only comes into play without the constraining Nexus requirements imposed on .NYC.
Londoners seem to be getting well behind the domain with a high publicy media campaign just launched and coverage through all main media channels.
Big retailers & businesses have already stated their intention to support the brand which is expected to follow through to the wider populace.
The London Olympic positive vibe and association to the Capital is still very prevalent and demand from further afield is expected from dotLondon Partners who are running .London.
NYC & London aren’t local brands but both global ones. The difference is .London can and will tap into that global demand whereas .NYC will be limited by the nexus constraints.
i think the best tlds have always been the most controlled, the ones with the most rules set-out by the registry, who assume they can control the whole namespace and that they understand all registrants. Furthermore, the best online companies have been government run by a bureaucracy within a city goverment. Its also important for online companies to be located within the area they are marketing to so that the distance the data has to travel is less.
page howe
Page isn’t .com the best and its not controlled, how many big sales week in week out do we see in .ca and .us ?
Irony.
I have to be honest Joseph I had been up for 24 hours straight which is now closer to 30 rebranding my blog and I just read the article straight so I read his comment straight. Haha
Congratulations on the rebrand and site redesign, Raymond! I just read about it elsewhere, and it looks good.
Can you please post all the facts of the .Vegas approach. Also are Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce members and Las Vegas brick and Mortar businesses getting first dibs?
.vegas won’t have nexus requirements and it appears Vegas businesses/people won’t get first dibs (unless they have a trademark registered with the trademark clearinghouse, of course). Sunrise should start in June.
The loss-leader approach of .BERLIN will be a boon to .NYC and .LONDON. Proponents of the latter two will be able to point to large registration numbers in their precursor, which will influence investor behavior in their favor.
In a way, however, the .BERLIN freebies have clouded the water. How popular would these city extensions be on their own?
Somewhat popular, I think — especially once they gain traction and are seen locally marketed. I’m referring to genuine local use, as opposed to speculator popularity.
But we know less than we think we do at this point. We should be counting the websites rather than the domain registrations. And it will be hard to make inferences among .BERLIN, .NYC, and .LONDON because their policies (including the giveaways with .BERLIN) are so different.
My own personal opinion is that any major city gTLD that has a restricted nexus model will be more appealing to consumers then one with an open registration. Although letting the world and their wife register .london may give them a better profit margin initially, the growing mistrust of “dodgy websites” will put consumers off interacting with .london domain names resulting in major brands having to resort to more commonly known TLDs in their domain family like .com and .co.uk.
Before anyone points it out yes I know .co.uk and .com are also open to everyone, but as they have already stood the test of time and built up generally positive reputations consumers are more comfortable on these sites.
As a UK resident if I visited a .nyc site to purchase something, it makes me feel more secure knowing that this shop has an actual physical presence in New York. A few dodgy media stories of people getting ripped off by websites giving the impression they are in London only for counterfeits goods to be sent (or not sent) from a Asian sweatshop and the .london trust will plummet leaving .com, .co.uk and maybe the new .uk in a stronger position then before.
Somehow I doubt established businesses and legitimate London residents will be put off by a few dodgy operators (beyond the ones already within the nexus).
People who want .London will get it and retain it irrespective, especially given the City’s global positioning as a brand in itself.
can a dot London domain name be claimed by a company with the same name?
eg vogue.London, businesses had 3 months priority to purchase their names if so desired.