Nine more new top level domain names enter general availability this week, including one that is going to have a miserable launch.
The week is already off with a bang thanks to the two most successful first day new TLD launches so far. TLD Registry released Dot Chinese Online (.在线) and Dot Chinese Website (.中文网) this morning.
Tomorrow .build launches with a suggested retail price of $99.
On Wednesday five of Donuts’ domain names go into regularly-priced general availability: .agency, .bargains, .boutique, .cheap and .zone. None of these jump out at me as home runs, but should be pretty solid singles or doubles.
Three more Donuts TLDs enter the Early Access Program (EAP) phase on Wednesday: .watch, .cool, and .works. Sorry, Apple fans: i.watch is currently unavailable because it’s on ICANN’s name collision list.
On Thursday .kiwi will hit general availability. I’ve seen prices ranging from $35/$55 per year for the domain.
.Wed will also hit general availability on Thursday. .Wed is an example of an applicant enforcing idealistic principles on domain registration while having complete disregard for the registrar channel.
As far as I can tell only 101domains.com (not to be confused with 101domain.com) is the only registrar offering the domain. Encirca was offering it but its .wed page no longer resolved. Domains are a steep $70/year for the first two years, and then you’ll basically be forced to give it up after that because renewals cost $30,000+.
Yep, .wed is going to be a big flop.
.wed has been a clueless social experiment from the start, I don’t think they can spin it any which way.
.kiwi I never really liked or go, I know it is meant for the population of New Zealand which is around 4M. I have a feeling you will see a lot of “special” reservations, but not many with different whois info. They are marketing into a very small audience, and will likely have to get serious money for the ones they deem premium to make a go of this.
The best of donuts this week I would have to say is .agency, with .zone coming second, the others with donuts having access to 100 reservations you will be reaching to find anything worth paying premium renewal for.
Overall momentum seems to be slowing down other than the new out of China today with some of their new launches.
$30k , do my eyes decieve me . Thats an enormous outlay for a cr@p extension
Even if the extension was a good extension $30K cannot be warranted, basically I think after year 1, the renewal fees, not including operational expenses comes down to $25K for the extension, so sell a few, and it could work, need some high rollers, with auto renewal set on their credit cards.
I hope that Andrews keyboard got stuck on zero’s and it’s really $30 for renewals..lol, this is all such a circus IMO.
$30K is right, than some new couples having a wedding can use the name, unless you are really wanting it, then you can pay up.
Innovation in business models doesn’t come without risk, and trying to force the current domain marketing to all new gTLDs is wrong. What .wed needs to know is, if they fail, should fail fast and change at least one of the differentiating factors: sales channels and pricing policy. Having those two was somewhat bold, but since registrars usually don’t like non-standard pricing policy, it probably makes sense.
Wasn’t dotWed the domain extension to be used only on (Wed)nesdays?
Should I kick .WED while it’s down? It’s already doomed to fail, and it’s taken a justifiable beating from others.
Yet I can’t help resenting the extra air time being thrown at such an undeserving project by the likes of NPR — national PUBLIC radio –when serious professional activities in the domain industry are slighted in the mainstream press. So when I kick .WED, I’m really kicking the media in the ribs.
It’s not just that Jack and Jill aren’t going up the hill to fetch a .WED …
It’s not just that Jack will fall down and break his crown on $70 compared to a $9 .COM or an even cheaper .US (plural for couples) …
It’s not just that Jill will come tumbling after once the .WED registry confiscates her wedding memory after 2 years, brandishing a $30,000 penalty for keeping the memento …
It’s not just that .WED will need to compete with .WEDDING as well as .COM …
It’s mainly that the .WED registry hasn’t mastered its multiplication tables:
1. How many first names are there? More than 1000. But let’s assume just 1000.
2. Suppose 1 person out of 1000 is named Jack. And suppose 1 person out of 1000 is named Jill. Then only 1 couple out of 100,000 (1000^2 ) will be Jack + Jill.
3. Here in the USA, there were only 2,077,000 marriages in 2009. So with our very generous numbers, 20 of those marriages would be Jack + Jill. (2 million / 100k).
4. How many married couples will opt for a special domain for a wedding website? I doubt as many as 25%, since virtually no couples build websites for their weddings currently. But let’s say 25%. So 5 Jack + Jill websites.
5. How many Jack + Jill wedding websites will select .WED rather than .WEDDING or .COM or .US or something else? Let’s assume 60%, which seems imporobable. So we’re down to 3 Jack + Jill .WED websites.
6. How many .WED domain options will Jack + Jill have to choose from?
JackJill.wed
JillJack.wed
JackandJill.wed
JillandJack.wed
JackplusJill.wed
JillplusJack.wed
JacknJill.wed
JillnJack.wed
So they’ve got 8 options at least simply from permutations of their names. Double that number if allowing for hyphens: 16. Double it again if allowing for a single surname: 32. Double it again if including the calendar year: 64. Multiply by 1000 for the various state or city names people might append: 6,400. Then add in the limitless number of creative domains that don’t necessarily utilize personal names:
Jack-Jill.wed
JackJillSmith.wed
JackAndJillSmith.wed
JackLovesJill.wed
JandJ.wed
JnJ.wed
JJ.wed
JJSmith.wed
Eternally.wed
2014JackJill.wed
Dedicated.wed
Love.wed
Lovers.wed
We.wed
TimeTo.wed
(Disclaimer: I dislike almost all the domains here.)
Long story short, this couple has no shortage of options. Maybe as many as a few thousand. But let’s assume just 30 viable choices.
7. We have 3 Jack + Jill couples getting married per year who will choose to register a .WED website. And they’ll have an estimated 30 string options. So if NOBODY ever drops a .WED domain on their own, it will still take about 10 years to run out of .WED options for Jack + Jill couples.
Conclusion: There was never any need for this policy of stripping registrants of their domain after 2 years.
“JandJ.wed”
The best part of that one is getting a UDRP from Johnson & Johnson on their honeymoon.
Ha ha! That would be surreally funny. I can imagine the quandary in the office: “Should we prosecute the newlyweds?” And the headline news coverage of a tearful bride, etc. Boycotts on baby shampoo … John, do I have your permission to write up your black humor as a short story and send it off to The New Yorker?
You’ve said it all. Nice analysis.
Or you could just do what our son and daughter-in-law to be just did, and for $10 register a .com at GD, “name” and “name”com. A quickie website and this URL was included on the invitations. At the end of the year, this domain will probably be released back into the wild….
i think they want to implemt drop domains and rereg it 😉