.co.in is almost half as cheap as a .in, so this gives indians more incentive to keep registering .co.in(s). If .in's price stays at $13 or $14, that will further stunt its growth, but probably not too badly.The fact that .co.in was launched before .in gives .co.in more legacy than .in, but i'm not sure how this will change in the future. People also like hacking the ".in" end too, and that is gaining popularity, just like .it and the likes.
In another thread I asked about the dates that .in, .co.in, .net.in and .gen.in were made available and was told they were all available at the same time.
So, that is wrong? If so, what were the dates each extension was made available? I couldn't find the answer online.
Last edited by trevor : 02-17-2008 at 04:49 AM.
Reason: spelling
I believe all .In domains including .co.in were introduced in 1989
Before the more liberal policies for the .in domain, only 7000 names had been registered between 1992 and 2004. By the end of 2006, that number had increased to over 200,000, with names registered by web users in over 150 countries. Roughly 80% of the registrants are from India, Germany, and the United States.
Someone apparently never visited india. Using reseller "standards" is a horrible way to compare .co.in & .in.
The fact is, companies are reluctant to change, .co.in is going to remain the standard for a long time. what would the british do if .uk came out, nothing their habits stay at .co.uk
But that would be a new ccTLD. As pointed out earlier .in and .co.in were out at the same time so by this point in time it is apparent which one is preferred.
The official 'public availability' of both was Feb 15, 2005.
edit - To get a .in earlier you needed to be a publicly traded company or at least have gross revenues in that range. Very few were given out prior to Feb 15, 2005 and those were mostly names. To get a .co.in you needed to be a registered private limited company. Lot more of those btw. Google India still is imo.
I'd like to understand which points you have selected to reach that conclusion after reading my post above (and I assume some others in the linked threads too).
Try and do some keyword research for both tlds too.
I'm not sure where I read the discussions but I know I've read that companies in India use .co.in more than they use .in. That makes sense to me because as you said previously, ".co.in was available a lot before .in" That is what I meant when I said the general opinion was that .co.in is preferred over .in by those in India.
From what I've read people seemed to agree that although more .ins are registered than .co.ins; .co.ins are used more often in advertising, etc, in India. I even read someone who was from India say that he thought most Indians weren't even aware of .in.
I can also tell you from my own experience in researching registered .ins and .co.ins, that there are many Indian companies, businesses and individuals that own .co.in and have .co.in sites but have not registered the .in. They obviously don't seem to care about getting the .in version of their .co.in. I have seen the reverse but no where near as often. I realize this is anecdotal evidence but while searching for Indian domains to register, I've looked at countless domains and whois records.
I should also mention that the .co.ins I have parked are viewed and clicked MUCH MORE than the .ins- even when I have the same domain in both extensions. That would seem to indicate something to me.
Having said all that, I tend to agree that .in will eventually be preferred in India more than .co.in. However, I don't think .in is going to be preferred and valued higher than .co.in as much as some think.
If .com and .net were released at the same time, .com most likely would not be valued more than .net. Honestly, I'd say .net would be where .com is now. If I didn't know anything about the internet and was given a choice of buying example.com or example.net, I would go with .net because, afterall, it is called the interNET and that extension would seem to make more sense than the ambiguous .com.
So, in looking at .in and .co.in and trying to predict what will happen there is plenty of things that work in .co.in's favor. If we look in the past, .co.in came before .in. If we look where we are now, .co.in seems to have a greater presence in marketing in India and is more familiar to Indian people. In he future I don't think the value of a .co.in compared to a .in is going to be like a .com to a .net. I think the value of .co.in could surprise many people.
Last edited by trevor : 02-17-2008 at 06:11 PM.
Reason: spelling
Older companies, who are unlikely to buy a domain.
Shouldn't this statistic tell you something?
This is actually news to me. And I've been in advertising since 1988.
Must be in his circle Indian business is looking mostly at .in
Care to give me 10 examples?
It depends on the .co.ins you have I think, but parking is not going to get you end user sales imho.
What I've been saying all along.
I live in India and get faced by the ground realities everyday.
However, you're welcome to draw whatever conclusions you want, since you seem to be hell bent on drawing the wrong ones Even your 'facts' seem misplaced. I really don't want to discuss this any further.
You will get a better picture if you research the total number of companies+businesses+consultants+online businesses+all other organisations in India and the percentage of them who have a website. Off the cuff I can assure you the percentage is very low as compared to many other countries. It is for this reason the .in was opened to the public and restrictions on .co.in was removed.
If a accurate prediction has to be arrived at there should be a market survey done and also we should look into how many .co.in are registered for actual end users in India after .in was released and compare that to how many .in are registered by end users.
You say they are older companies who are unlikely to buy a domain?
I'm saying more companies in India are using .co.in more than .in in their marketing and advertising. So obviously they already have the domain.
Yes, it does. It tells me Americans domainers, anxious to jump on the next big thing, have bought up a bunch of .ins.
I have no idea. I'm going by what I've read from others.
You say you've been in advertising since 1988. Also, you're obviously into speculating on domains, so maybe your opinion is based on what's going on in your circle.
I could you give you ten examples but I'm not going to list them for the world to see. I'll tell you this, there's a Indian businessman who is a billionaire and he owns a .co.in he seems to be using for a personal site or something unrelated to his business. The .in is sitting there unregistered and he has the money to buy whatever domains he wants.
I'm not talking about a way to get end user sales. I'm merely saying that I have hundreds of domains parked and people in India seem to be typing xxxxxx.co.in into their browsers much more than they're typing xxxxxx.in. I've read other people also saying their .co.ins get more trafiic and clicks than .ins so I think my experience is common.
Yeah, I tend to agree. I'm not as fanatical in my opinions on the subject as you seem to be.
It really doesn't matter to me which extension is worth more. I have both. However, you seem to be banking on .in and need .in to "win". You could be in for a rude awakening or at the very least, disappointed. However, I'll win either way.
I have no idea what you mean by the laughing smiley faces. If you're trying to say the statement is funny or ridiculous, back up your opinion instead of mocking mine. I'd be willing to bet most people would agree with my statement. All things being equal in the beginning of the internet, .net most likely wins over .com.
I was just giving some opinions and ideas based on what I've read from others and seen myself. As you'll see if you reread this discussion, I'm very careful about the words I choose and don't draw any solid conclusions. I believe you're the one who is firm in your opinions on the subject. Also, I'm not sure why you're characterizing me as "hell bent" on drawing the wrong conclusions.
mwzd, I'm going to be honest. I've read many of your posts on the forum and enjoy and respect your opinion. I believe I've even told you so when I asked you some questions via PM you were kind enough to help me with. However, I've got to say your posts here seem to be somewhat condescending, belittling and often mocking towards anyone who seems to not completely agree with your opinion. It would have been nice if you would have been as respectful of my opinions as I was of yours.
No, because unlike .co.uk both .co.in and .in came out at the same time. People have only had one choice in the UK - .co.uk. In India there has been enough time for choice and it is now apparent that .In is the most popular out of .in and .co.in.
I'm Indian, born and bred, can't visit, live here. 
