NamePros.Com - View Single Post - IDNs are the reality of the new domain industry

Not feeling like picking a fight tonight. So I'll take a deep breath and respond that this is an armchair philosophical argument you are making (with good intentions I know) that a little bit of real world research would quickly change your position on. I think you might be a victim of wishful thinking if you believe the business world is moving towards English in any significant way.

You aren't completely wrong about type-in traffic though. Many more people in this world don't speak English than do as an aggregate. Therefore, it is entirely likely that IDNs will receive over the medium term more aggregate traffic than English domains. However, traffic to the domains of any particular language depend on the pool of available speakers. Mandarin chinese speakers are two times as numerous as English speakers. And Hindi and Spanish are right next to English. Japanese, my favorite, is 11th in the world which isn't bad but then they make up for it by being one of the top 3 economies in the world.

Originally Posted by Mark

While most people do realize IDN's are becoming Stronger everyday ... The Business World has been and still is moving more and more toward English. English is one of the only Languages spread out among pretty much EVERY Country now (Go into most any Airport).

I can see the potential for IDN's to be the highest "registered" form of Domains (Populations in Asia could point to that by themselves) , But I can also see where this will increase the Gap between "Social Traffic" and "Business Traffic" online. Many of the largest companies already have an English based Domain and website - Even if they do have multilingual versions as the main site or even IDN's. Getting people not using English as their main language to come to "ASCII" Domains has never been a problem , But on the other hand - How many already speaking English would ever type in a IDN ?

I AM NOT Saying Business is not conducted in other languages by any means ! So do not go there ... I'm just saying It has been moving toward English for some time now.
I'm not basing this on the fact English is my Language ... But General facts.

Do and Will IDN's get Traffic ? No doubt ...
Will they ever get the same "Range" of Traffic as ASCII Domains ? I kind of Doubt it personally. Please Note I said "Range". Not the actual amount of Traffic.