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Is an app really necessary?

by — Uncategorized 11 Comments

Another company shuts down its app to focus on the mobile web.

Picture of iPhone screen with app icons with words "Who needs Apps?"

“We’ve got have an app!” – businesses everywhere

But do they, really? Or is an app just a lazy way of making a mobile-friendly website?

I was reminded of this earlier this week when TransUnion canned its TrueIdentity app. The app allowed people to lock/unlock their credit report on TransUnion.

The company said it shut down the app because “we’ve focused on building an enhanced mobile experience on our website”.

Google has also started shutting down its apps. The company terminated its Adsense apps to focus on its mobile experience. Google said it makes more sense to focus its resources on one common platform (the web) rather than three (iOS, Android).

That said, businesses might benefit from maintaining apps because it’s like getting a bookmark on customers’ mobile phones. People are more likely to use a service if they see an icon on their phone whenever they use it.

The Covid-19 Surge

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

Domain registrars experienced a surge in new domain registrations in April due to the pandemic.

The words "Domain surge" in Fast font with yellow background

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers April 2020.

April was a strong month for domain name registrars as companies rushed to go digital because businesses were shut down due to Covid-19.

The numbers reflect that, and they’re even more startling when you consider that March was also an up month due to the pandemic.

Consider Wix. Its registrations for February, March, and April were 75,407, 86,353, and 110,573.

Google’s registrations were 132,513, 144,355, and 170,306.

Tucows: 189,784, 201,660, 270,196.

You get the idea.

The trend is most notable for registrars that cater to end users rather than domain investors.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations in April:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 1,011,313 (990,805 in March) (March number excludes Uniregistry)
2. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 270,196 (201,660)
3. Namecheap Inc. 244,079 (220,563)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 203,981 (167,966)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 170,306 (144,355)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 146,314 (168,265)
7. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 110,573 (86,353)
8. United Internet^ 84,925 (71,767)
9. West263 67,757
10. NameSilo 65,429

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of April 2020.

1. GoDaddy* 53,544,247 (52,559,293 in March) (March number excludes Uniregistry, appx. 900,000 domains)
2. Tucows** 12,815,824 (12,781,969)
3. Web.com++ 7,064,131 (7,119,532)
4. Endurance+ 6,948,816 (6,888,632)
5. Alibaba 5,859,831 (5,787,345)
6. Namecheap 5,690,180 (5,551,106)
7. United Internet^ 5,532,444 (5,521,784)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,647,376 (3,746,993)
9. Google 3,474,697 (3,367,072)
10. GMO 2,310,668 (2,313,794)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Latest .com rankings report

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

How domain name registrars fared in the most recent monthly data report.

The words "top 10 domain registrars" in purple and yellow text

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers February 2020.

Namecheap had the second most new .com registrations during the month. It’s funny to think that it used to be a reseller of Enom (now part of Tucows), which landed in third for the month.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 970,641 (1,060,845 in January)
2. Namecheap Inc. 203,248 (197,210)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 189,784 (205,518)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 174,972 (140,818)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 132,513 (138,028)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 91,190 (116,153)
7. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 75,407 (77,686)
8. United Internet^ 68,936 (71,196)
9. Chengdu West 61,674 (n/a)
10. West 263 61,482 (73,295)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of February 2020.

1. GoDaddy* 52,296,013 (52,061,831 in January)
2. Tucows** 12,791,432 (12,807,781)
3. Web.com++ 7,121,051 (7,137,113)
4. Endurance+ 6,851,967 (6,810,266)
5. Alibaba 5,747,031 (5,852,372)
6. United Internet^ 5,512,155 (5,507,431)
7. Namecheap 5,431,296 (5,322,270)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,961,980 (4,136,931)
9. Google 3,282,713 (3,199,382)
10. GMO 2,304,518 (2,296,219)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Laws forcing Google to pay for news “content” hurt small publishers

by — Policy & Law 3 Comments

Google is the lifeblood of small publishers.

Picture of the Google logo above a building with the words "News Snippets"

Australia is the latest country to consider mandating that Google pay news publishers for “content,” even if this content is just a headline and short snippet.

Google and Google News have become a bogeyman for news publishers who are frustrated by plunging revenue due to the move to digital.

People often go to Google News or Google’s cards on their phone instead of a publisher’s home page because Google News provides a broader range of information from multiple sources and viewpoints than a single publication.

But this means publications get more “drive-by” traffic that only views a single article, and might not be a paying subscriber.

This is a real struggle. Yet forcing Google to pay for showing a headline and snippet is a lousy way to fix the issue. Publishers should try to adapt to offer some of the value that Google News provides instead.

Let’s be clear. The headline and snippet are akin to a search engine results listing for any topic. People want as much free traffic from Google as they can get, but large publishers don’t think this way.

When Spain passed a law forcing Google to pay publishers for Google News, Google shut down News in the country. That didn’t help anyone, and it disproportionately hurt small publishers who depend on Google for traffic.

Even if Google has to pay small publishers, it will likely be a nominal amount of money. Only the larger publishers would receive enough to make a line item for it.

I understand why government leaders are responding to lobbying from the publishing industry. It’s a shame smaller publishers’ concerns aren’t also considered.

Google wins fight over “Google Coronavirus” domain name

by — Policy & Law 1 Comment

Man agrees to give domain name to Google after facing cybersquatting complaint.

Picture of man wearing surgical mask with the word "Coronavirus" overlayed

A Massachusetts man who registered GoogleCoronavirus .com has agreed to hand it over to Google after the company filed a cybersquatting complaint.

Ben Ghosh registered the domain—at Google Domains, no less—on March 13. Google filed a cybersquatting complaint with National Arbitration Forum just three days later.

The domain name had a basic WordPress installation with no additional content.

Rather than fight the case, Ghosh consented to transfer the domain name to Google.

Companies have been registering domain names including their brands and terms like coronavirus and Covid-19 to protect against cybersquatting. For example, Facebook registered over 500 domain names including its brands and these terms.

It’s almost impossible to register every possible permutation. It probably makes sense for large websites to register obvious domains like brandCoronavirus. Beyond that, they can turn to cybersquatting mechanisms under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolutions Policy to get control of domains that people register.

Google also filed a case against CoronavirusGoogle .com, which was registered by Walter Lafky of Oregon. That case is still pending.

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