Death change in domains!

[Chill]

THIS COULD MEAN BANKRUPTCY FOR TONS OF DOMAINERS AND A TON MORE COMPETITION ONLINE!

NEW YORK — Amazon.com wants ".joy," Google wants ".love" and L'Oreal wants ".beauty."

Big brands are behind hundreds of proposals for new Internet addresses, including scores for generic terms such as "cruise," ".kids" and ".tires."

If approved, Amazon could use ".author" in an attempt to dominate online bookselling, while Google could use ".love" to collect registration fees from its rivals.

Amazon and Google also are vying for ".app" and ".music," while the wine company Gallo Vineyards Inc. wants ".barefoot."

It's all part of the largest expansion of the Internet address system since its creation in the 1980s, a process likely to cause headaches for some companies while creating vast opportunities for others.

The organization in charge of Internet addresses, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, announced the proposals for Internet suffixes Wednesday. A suffix is the ".com" part in a domain name.

The bids now go through a review that could take months or years. Up to 1,000 suffixes could be added each year.

There were 1,930 proposals for 1,409 different suffixes. The bulk of proposals that met the May 30 deadline came from North America and Europe. About 100 were for suffixes in non-English characters, including Chinese, Arabic and Thai.

From a technical standpoint, the names let Internet-connected computers know where to send email and locate websites. But they've come to mean much more. For Amazon.com Inc., for instance, the domain name is the heart of the company, not just an address.


A new suffix could be used to identify sites that have a certain level of security protection. It could be used to create online neighborhoods of businesses affiliated with a geographic area or an industry. French cosmetics giant L'Oreal, for instance, proposed ".beauty" as a home for beauty products and general information on personal beauty.

"The Internet is about to change forever," ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom declared. "We're standing at the cusp of a new era of online innovation, innovation that means new businesses, new marketing tools, new jobs, new ways to link communities and share information."

But there's a question of how useful the new names will be. Alternatives to ".com" introduced over the past decade have had mixed success. These days, Internet users often find websites not by typing in the address but by using a search engine. And with mobile devices getting more popular, people are using apps to bypass Web browsers entirely.

Many businesses worry that they'll have to police the Internet for addresses that misuse their brands, in many cases paying to register names simply to keep them away from others. It was one thing having some 300 suffixes; it's another to have thousands.

"One thing that's going to occur is a lot of money is going to get sucked out of the ecosystem," said Lauren Weinstein, co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility and a strong critic of ICANN. "The cost is billions and billions of dollars with no value returned to people and an enormous capacity for confusion."

One worry is that an expansion will mean more addresses available to scam artists who use similar-sounding names such as "Amazom" rather than "Amazon" to trick people into giving passwords and credit card information.

The public now has 60 days to comment on the proposals. There's also a seven-month window for filing objections, including claims of trademark violation.

Of the 1,930 proposals, 1,179 were unique and 751 were for 230 different suffixes. ICANN will hold an auction if competing bidders cannot reach a compromise. Most of the duplicate bids were for generic names, though the Guardian newspaper and The Guardian Life Insurance Co. both sought ".guardian."

Bidders had to pay $185,000 per proposal. If approved, each suffix would cost at least $25,000 a year to maintain, with a 10-year commitment required. By comparison, a personal address with a common suffix such as ".com" usually costs less than $10 a year.

ICANN has received some $350 million in application fees. The money will be used to set up the system, review applications and make sure parties do what they have promised once the suffix is operational. Some of the money will be set aside to cover potential lawsuits from unsuccessful applicants and others.

Some of the proposals are for suffixes to be reserved for in-house use. Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp., for instance, plan to restrict ".yahoo and ".microsoft" to their sites or affiliates, while keeping their current names under ".com." If Google Inc. wins its bid for ".search," the search leader won't let rivals use it.

But there are hundreds of proposals for generic names that the public would be able to buy names under – for $10 or thousands depending on the suffix. Some are coming from entrepreneurs or businesses that specialize in domain names.

Others are from big technology companies. That means Google, for instance, could charge its fiercest rivals for rights to "Microsoft.love," "Facebook.love" and "Apple.love." Google declined comment.

Amazon has bids for 76 names, many related to businesses the online bookseller now dominates or might want to. Besides ".book" and ".author," Amazon is seeking ".joy."

That worries Stephen Ewart, marketing manager of Names.co.uk, a domain name reseller that stands to gain from registrations under new suffixes, including ".joy" if it is approved.

"Once you own these spaces, you can write your own terms and conditions," he says. "Big brands can decide who can be there and decide what can be put in that space. It's a bit cynical to think someone can be locked out of joy."

"Do we want the likes of Amazon owning joy?" he asks.

Amazon declined comment.

Amazon and Google are among 13 bidders for ".app." Both companies operate stores for distributing apps for mobile devices running Google's Android system. That could shut out Apple Inc. and its rival iPhone and iPad devices.

While Google applied for 101 suffixes, Apple sought only one, ".apple." EBay Inc. and Facebook Inc. didn't propose for any. It was Amazon that bid for ".like" – the button on Facebook that lets users recommend links and brands to friends.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...mong-suf_n_1592839.html?utm_hp_ref=technology

 

[mjnels]

but who is going to remember all these new extentions? buddy buys my.business and people will think its mybusiness.com. the consumers mind has been engrained for almost 20 years that its .com .com .com. all other tld's have failed. why would a barrage of them succeed?

because its a barrage this time instead of just a few TLD's being released like in the past.. and this time its possible for the companies to use them ALL to themselves on a closed network. what business wouldnt want at their disposal a set of intuitive.keywords they're able to use for advertising purposes anytime they want.


that could be all it takes to change normal behavior. we'll have to see how many are approved. all it is now is a list of proposals.

sure but why do .com's get traffic when sites are established on other tlds?

traffic leakage - people are used to .com's today. certainly a benefit to the domainer but that doesnt mean the guy operating the store on his .net isnt doing just fine too. lots of pie for everyone.

 

[bmugford]

people who are suggesting that remembering another word to the right of the ".dot" is going to be difficult for people - i'd like to point out that email addresses are even more complicated to remember since they have THREE parts and we've been fine with that for years. not to mention we're still able to write things down.

The email loss will be epic.

[email protected] will become [email protected] or [email protected]

Very sensitive emails will be lost.

As someone who deals with end users daily, I can say that the average internet user is not as educated as many think they are.

Brad

 

[Jasonn]

because its a barrage this time instead of just a few TLD's being released like in the past.. and this time its possible for the companies to use them ALL to themselves on a closed network. what business wouldnt want at their disposal a set of intuitive.keywords they're able to use for advertising purposes anytime they want.


that could be all it takes to change normal behavior. we'll have to see how many are approved. all it is now is a list of proposals.







traffic leakage - people are used to .com's today. certainly a benefit to the domainer but that doesnt mean the guy operating the store on his .net isnt doing just fine too. lots of pie for everyone.

any big company that uses these new tlds will either always lose some traffic to the .com or will want to acquire the .com, making it even more valuable. i just don't have any faith in new tld's. maybe in 20 years the public will get used to them and be more the norm but after wasting so much money on .mobi, i am stay far far away from any tld's besides .com.

 

[mjnels]

any big company that uses these new tlds will either always lose some traffic to the .com or will want to acquire the .com, making it even more valuable. i just don't have any faith in new tld's. maybe in 20 years the public will get used to them and be more the norm but after wasting so much money on .mobi, i am stay far far away from any tld's besides .com.

sure, they will lose traffic to the .com

im not even saying domainers will be able to benefit from registering/flipping/monetizing these things necessarily. they might not be able to.

most of these TLD applications could be for defensive purposes and remain completely unused - though i find that unlikely. im simply talking about the possibility of internet giants, media giants, etc creating a change in what people think of as a website address today. if you think this isnt at least possible with the massive influence they have i'd say you're mistaken. take a look at some of the giants on that list all simultaneously applying for these things..

http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en

The email loss will be epic.

[email protected] will become [email protected] or [email protected]

Very sensitive emails will be lost.

As someone who deals with end users daily, I can say that the average internet user is not as educated as many think they are.

Brad

it probably will be epic.. definitely at first. but people are learning quicker today than ever.. this aint the 90's no mo. again, all depends how exposed to the public these things are. nobody can predict this yet - its all just guessing.

also, this IS happening as you all can see. we're no longer talking about the possibility of random TLD's becoming reality, so its a problem thats going to happen anyway. we're talking when not if.

ICANN CEO said himself: "The Internet is about to change forever"

yes they may be doing it for money, we can argue that... but its really happening.

 

[Jasonn]

sure, they will lose traffic to the .com

im not even saying domainers will be able to benefit from this necessarily. they might not be able to.

most of these TLD applications could be for defensive purposes and remain completely unused - though i find that unlikely. im simply talking about the possibility of internet giants, media giants, etc creating a change in what people think of as a website address today. if you think this isnt at least possible with the massive influence they have i'd say you're mistaken. take a look at some of the giants on that list all simultaneously applying for these things..

http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en





it probably will be epic.. definitely at first. but people are learning quicker today than ever.. this aint the 90's no mo. again, all depends how exposed to the public these things are. nobody can predict this yet - its all just guessing.

also, this IS happening as you all can see. we're no longer talking about the possibility of random TLD's becoming reality, so its a problem thats going to happen anywhere. we're talking when not if.

It will be interesting to see what happens. I'm sure a good number are just defensive but its the big guys who are applying for generics that are the most interesting. will they develop or just sit on them. so many big corps are just sitting on generic .com's for years, doing nothing. will the same happen with these? perhaps but there will definitely be a number offered for general registration like the donuts people, etc. regardless, the buying of tld's is out of reach for most people here, and buying domains from these new tld's will most likely be a waste from a speculation viewpoint.

---------- Post added at 02:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:59 PM ----------

sure, they will lose traffic to the .com

im not even saying domainers will be able to benefit from registering/flipping/monetizing these things necessarily. they might not be able to.

most of these TLD applications could be for defensive purposes and remain completely unused - though i find that unlikely. im simply talking about the possibility of internet giants, media giants, etc creating a change in what people think of as a website address today. if you think this isnt at least possible with the massive influence they have i'd say you're mistaken. take a look at some of the giants on that list all simultaneously applying for these things..

http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en





it probably will be epic.. definitely at first. but people are learning quicker today than ever.. this aint the 90's no mo. again, all depends how exposed to the public these things are. nobody can predict this yet - its all just guessing.

also, this IS happening as you all can see. we're no longer talking about the possibility of random TLD's becoming reality, so its a problem thats going to happen anyway. we're talking when not if.

ICANN CEO said himself: "The Internet is about to change forever"

yes they may be doing it for money, we can argue that... but its really happening.

I imagine the public will be quite slow to catch on, heck people still call domains ".com's" like nothing else even exists so it will be a bit of a challenge.

 

[JB Lions]

"people who are suggesting that remembering another word to the right of the ".dot" is going to be difficult for people - i'd like to point out that email addresses are even more complicated to remember since they have THREE parts and we've been fine with that for years. not to mention we're still able to write things down."

Who has email addresses memorized? I surely don't, maybe few I use on a regular basis. And I don't ever recall email addresses on TV commercials, on my products etc.

"new registrations: if the option even EXISTS to register many different TLD's other than .com, .net, .org, etc.. at very least A FEW businesses will do this especially if its a shorter more relevant keyword when their only other option was www.ThisDotComIsKindaTooLongTooRemember.com - even if domain experts consider it a bad move and have the facts to prove that you'd be better off with the longer string .com..."

First, I don't recall to many extremely long .coms because of the examples I gave earlier. Creative name or buy a decent one at a reasonable price, low x,xxx. That's real. Backed up by actual examples and links.

If somebody went in and tried for a .com and it wasn't available, usually what happens? Your keyword is available in .net .biz etc. So yet again, I ask. Why are those extensions not widely used and why do you think these new ones will be? I've yet to hear a good answer on that one. Global alternative extensions are nothing new. They are not widely used by businesses.

So the .coms, .orgs, .de, .co.uk other major country codes are pretty safe, probably will even see some benefit.

The only ones that should be worrying are alternative extensions, for example a .co. Because that was sometimes marketed as, you can't get your .com, well get a .co. Now it's, you can't get a .com, get a this or that or hundreds of other possibilities, bye bye Super Bowl commercials etc.

And using .co as an example, where are they at, like 1.2 million? That's with being the only new extension to market at the time, that's with a good marketing campaign behind it, that's with GoDaddy pumping them up on one of the biggest stages of the world, the SuperBowl. Now you have this new flood coming in. If they're at 1.2 million do you really expect one of these new ones to top that? Probably not. And if you're only in the hundreds of thousands, that's not real market penetration. Most people will not even know you exist. Like I said earlier, that extra money a company will have to spend for the public to not only become aware of what comes before the dot, but after it as well, is better invested in a good .com. And that is one of the answers to the question I posed earlier. Because a lot of businesses actually have somebody that knows something about marketing. And if you don't, pick up a Consumer Behavior book somewhere, go thru it.

 

[mjnels]

Who has email addresses memorized? I surely don't, maybe few I use on a regular basis. And I don't ever recall email addresses on TV commercials, on my products etc.

exactly - we dont even have them memorized most the time and yet we still manage to use them pretty effectively and they're very popular.

Why are those extensions not widely used and why do you think these new ones will be? I've yet to hear a good answer on that one. Global alternative extensions are nothing new. They are not widely used by businesses.

firstly, im not sure of anything. but here is why i think it could be "different this time" : in the past these TLD's were released slowly and only by the handful.. mobi, biz, info, and the like... they largely went unrecognized by the public. i used to use a .info email address and got funny looks from some folks even in the year 2011 and even some that said "and then .com right"...hah


the public would need to be exposed to them by multiple big name companies all at once and compared to the tiny handful of TLD's that exist now, its possible for this to happen with seemingly unlimited TLD's being introduced. why would big name companies want to own their own TLD? having a huge list of great easy to remember keywords at their disposal.

The only ones that should be worrying are alternative extensions, for example a .co. Because that was sometimes marketed as, you can't get your .com, well get a .co. Now it's, you can't get a .com, get a this or that or hundreds of other possibilities, bye bye Super Bowl commercials etc.

And using .co as an example, where are they at, like 1.2 million? That's with being the only new extension to market at the time, that's with a good marketing campaign behind it, that's with GoDaddy pumping them up on one of the biggest stages of the world, the SuperBowl. Now you have this new flood coming in. If they're at 1.2 million do you really expect one of these new ones to top that? Probably not. And if you're only in the hundreds of thousands, that's not real market penetration. Most people will not even know you exist. Like I said earlier, that extra money a company will have to spend for the public to not only become aware of what comes before the dot, but after it as well, is better invested in a good .com. And that is one of the answers to the question I posed earlier. Because a lot of businesses actually have somebody that knows something about marketing. And if you don't, pick up a Consumer Behavior book somewhere, go thru it.

true, but selling domains to the general public is just one angle of this thing. you have to consider the possibility that many of these companies who paid $185,000 per application MAY NEVER offer registrations to the public and may just use the entire TLD as their own keyword bank. its possible now. it wasnt before - thats huge.

 

[JB Lions]

"firstly, im not sure of anything. but here is why i think it could be "different this time" : in the past these TLD's were released slowly and only by the handful.. mobi, biz, info, and the like... they largely went unrecognized by the public. i used to use a .info email address and got funny looks from some folks even in the year 2011 and even some that said "and then .com right"...hah"

That was brought up before and I think with change, it's easier in smaller chunks than one big flood. Too much at one time, it's overwhelming, even domainers can't keep track of them all. If you're getting funny looks with .info which is around 8 million regs, imagine the looks with extensions that will probably never break 1 million.

 

[mjnels]

That was brought up before and I think with change, it's easier in smaller chunks than one big flood. Too much at one time, it's overwhelming, even domainers can't keep track of them all. If you're getting funny looks with .info which is around 8 million regs, imagine the looks with extensions that will probably never break 1 million.

what im talking about is just the possibility of the general public waking up that other TLD's exist BECAUSE there are SO many companies using them and advertising them at once. will it happen like that? nobody knows but given the staggering number of applicants for their own TLD its more possible than its ever been. the tipping point is easier to get to with those kinds of numbers.

keeping track of how many TLD's there are would become irrelevant. like keeping track of all the phone # possibilities.

 

[Aggro]

Complete BS

How many sites on .gov do people typically go on? A few
It's not like they spend all their time on a .gov site like Facebook

Yet it's intuitive: "oh I see. dot-gov for government"

Same process with dot-law, dot-doctor, dot-realtor...mostly extensions that describe a trade or profession

Much more preferable than a 5th rate, 5-times removed from the root-ten keywords of the dot-com costing where the holder is asking for 1000's

You joined the dot-com party too late, Johnny-cum-lately hobbyist

ps the most you will ever make in domaining is winning Elliot Silver's competition

:bah:

"firstly, im not sure of anything. but here is why i think it could be "different this time" : in the past these TLD's were released slowly and only by the handful.. mobi, biz, info, and the like... they largely went unrecognized by the public. i used to use a .info email address and got funny looks from some folks even in the year 2011 and even some that said "and then .com right"...hah"

That was brought up before and I think with change, it's easier in smaller chunks than one big flood. Too much at one time, it's overwhelming, even domainers can't keep track of them all. If you're getting funny looks with .info which is around 8 million regs, imagine the looks with extensions that will probably never break 1 million.

 

[JB Lions]

Complete BS

How many sites on .gov do people typically go on? A few
It's not like they spend all their time on a .gov site like Facebook

Yet it's intuitive: "oh I see. dot-gov for government"

Same process with dot-law, dot-doctor, dot-realtor...mostly extensions that describe a trade or profession

Much more preferable than a 5th rate, 5-times removed from the root-ten keywords of the dot-com costing where the holder is asking for 1000's

You joined the dot-com party too late, Johnny-cum-lately hobbyist

ps the most you will ever make in domaining is winning Elliot Silver's competition

:bah:

So you're actually saying, somekeyword.travel is better that something.com? No wonder you've been doing this for so long and have been a failure for the same amount of time. Maybe instead of getting creative like Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotwire, Expedia, Viator etc., they should have listened to Aggro's marketing insights and went with the great keyword.travel instead.

 

[Jasonn]

Complete BS

How many sites on .gov do people typically go on? A few
It's not like they spend all their time on a .gov site like Facebook

Yet it's intuitive: "oh I see. dot-gov for government"

Same process with dot-law, dot-doctor, dot-realtor...mostly extensions that describe a trade or profession

Much more preferable than a 5th rate, 5-times removed from the root-ten keywords of the dot-com costing where the holder is asking for 1000's

You joined the dot-com party too late, Johnny-cum-lately hobbyist

ps the most you will ever make in domaining is winning Elliot Silver's competition

:bah:

yeah... and thats why experts who have no stake in what happens are saying its going to cause mass consumer confusion...why aren't people regging .biz en mass? it means business after all. it should be a no brainer but still, no real business wants them and even if they do start out with a .biz or other tld they always want the .com.

 

[domainhacks-931385]

yeah... and thats why experts who have no stake in what happens are saying its going to cause mass consumer confusion...why aren't people regging .biz en mass? it means business after all. it should be a no brainer but still, no real business wants them and even if they do start out with a .biz or other tld they always want the .com.

no people don't always want the .com. Domainers perpetuate that myth so they can keep making money of sucker endusers. There are plenty of people who will take a .net or .org or cctld, but as soon as they do someone squats the .com trying to make money of them.

Please don't try to compare .biz to all these new extensions. Why don't you bring up .info?, it was a success. These new tlds will have some serious backers such as google and will have a fair shot at equalizing the tld market away from the domainers domain of choice, .com.

 

[Jasonn]

no people don't always want the .com. Domainers perpetuate that myth so they can keep making money of sucker endusers. There are plenty of people who will take a .net or .org or cctld, but as soon as they do someone squats the .com trying to make money of them.

Please don't try to compare .biz to all these new extensions. Why don't you bring up .info?, it was a success. These new tlds will have some serious backers such as google and will have a fair shot at equalizing the tld market away from the domainers domain of choice, .com.

what major businesses are using .info?? i associate info with spam as thats what it was largely used for. very small businesses and people who run websites for fun and a little profit, sure they couldn't care less but anyone making any kind of serious money online knows they are losing money by not having the .com.

 

[Kate]

what im talking about is just the possibility of the general public waking up that other TLD's exist BECAUSE there are SO many companies using them and advertising them at once.

I'm not quite sure. In general there is a consensus that .com or the local extension is preferred for serious business ventures. You will always see oddities but it's the general impression that counts. Even when new TLDs are rolled out they won't be the norm. Just to become 'mainstream' is going to take a long time.

Awareness is just the beginning of the journey.
The real challenge is to convince end users to put their business on new extensions. Remember that they will have plenty to choose from. The market share of each will be diluted as a result. A few should stand out, the rest will be as popular as .coop or .aero.

I think domainers have always overestimated the size and potential of the domain market. Even in .com you can still find decent handregs. The shortage of domains is not so extreme that oddball extensions are suddenly becoming appealing. Icann brought a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[domainhacks-931385]

what major businesses are using .info?? i associate info with spam as thats what it was largely used for. very small businesses and people who run websites for fun and a little profit, sure they couldn't care less but anyone making any kind of serious money online knows they are losing money by not having the .com.

The only argument for losing money by not having the .com is typing in .com instead of .extension, this argument is weak. If a squatter is sitting on the .com, the person visits, sees spam and exit the site right away and types in the real extension. This argument worked in the late 90s - 2010ish Now almost eveyone is using google to search companies one way or the other. If the .com is squatted and has spam links, google will blacklist it. The real company will show up on page 1 of google and the company has no interest in purchasing a blacklisted domain. having the .com is not important anymore.

 

[JB Lions]

The only argument for losing money by not having the .com is typing in .com instead of .extension, this argument is weak. If a squatter is sitting on the .com, the person visits, sees spam and exit the site right away and types in the real extension. This argument worked in the late 90s - 2010ish Now almost eveyone is using google to search companies one way or the other. If the .com is squatted and has spam links, google will blacklist it. The real company will show up on page 1 of google and the company has no interest in purchasing a blacklisted domain. having the .com is not important anymore.

A real company thinks beyond Google. It's great if you only care about the SERPS but most have bigger marketing plans.

 

[accent]

One reason companies want these is the possibility they will soon get no-dot access - type google in the address bar - no dot needed.

 

[JB Lions]

One reason companies want these is the possibility they will soon get no-dot access - type google in the address bar - no dot needed.

reread the post before yours Think bigger, companies do. Think tv, radio, newspapers, blimps, stadiums, stationary, business cards, pens, t-shirts, look on the product itself, visit your kitchen read the food labels, word of mouth etc. Search engines are just one part.

 

[ecalc]

Berkshire Hathaway to Acquire Dot Info Horde

Omaha, NE June 16, 2012
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett announced that Berkshire will acquire a massive portfolio of dot info domain names. The transaction is expected to close in late July, pending approval of the seller and is also subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals and a medical exam. “Dot info is relatively successful and popular in Europe,” said Buffett. “We are delighted to report that these babies fly under the radar of dot com squatters.” Buffett did not explain the reversal of his no internet investment policy, mumbling quotes from 'name pros' between puffs of Chesterfield and swigs of Old Crow. Charlie Munger stood by chewing his nails like a hobo on a double whopper. In addition to the dot infos, the purchase includes a daily newspaper in Council Bluffs and used cars in two states. Buffett added that the purchase is consistent with his new vision to 'own' the internet. “Warren Buffett’s offer to purchase our names presented a unique opportunity to address our long-term capital needs and get a color TV,” said the anonymous seller.

About Berkshire
Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries engage in diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, finance, manufacturing, retailing and services. Common stock of the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading symbols BRK.A and BRK.B.

Cautionary Statement
Certain statements contained in this press release are “forward looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guaranties of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those forecasted.

 

[mjnels]

Awareness is just the beginning of the journey.
The real challenge is to convince end users to put their business on new extensions. Remember that they will have plenty to choose from. The market share of each will be diluted as a result. A few should stand out, the rest will be as popular as .coop or .aero.

yes, but im not talking about any particular new TLD "catching on".. this is a domainer-centric way of thinking when there was only a very limited amount of TLD's available. just questioning what it would actually take for the public to go "oh .everything exists" and have it not be a weird thing anymore. you'd need advertising from many different established giants - billboard, tv, radio, internet, the whole nine yards - and it would have to happen all at once.

with thousands of TLD's it could be possible for many business to start using them simultaneously. how likely is it? most seem to feel its very unlikely but the possibility exist now.

I think domainers have always overestimated the size and potential of the domain market. Even in .com you can still find decent handregs. The shortage of domains is not so extreme that oddball extensions are suddenly becoming appealing. Icann brought a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

domainers might not even be able to profit off this. i would imagine thats why most are against it. Icann's problem might have just been they wanted money.

 

[ExampleName]

Weird how companies do things to get money.

 

[scandiman]

I'm not quite sure. In general there is a consensus that .com or the local extension is preferred for serious business ventures. You will always see oddities but it's the general impression that counts. Even when new TLDs are rolled out they won't be the norm. Just to become 'mainstream' is going to take a long time.

Awareness is just the beginning of the journey.
The real challenge is to convince end users to put their business on new extensions. Remember that they will have plenty to choose from. The market share of each will be diluted as a result. A few should stand out, the rest will be as popular as .coop or .aero.
.

The question is how much of a challenge is it to convince an end user to put their business on their own extension?

The argument often used against current non-com tlds is that few major corps have made a push to use them, but now hundreds of major corps have lined up to pay their $200k to have their .brand. With their budgets this cash is chump change so it may just be an effort to have the .brand option in the vault if the concept takes off but I suspect some will give it a go and push their .brand out to consumers and some will succeed and pave the way for others. .Brand may soon after be the status symbol of major companies and the more that follow the lead the more the public "gets it" and only the small guys still use .com vs their own .brand. Times are changing.

---------- Post added at 09:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:16 AM ----------

yes, but im not talking about any particular new TLD "catching on".. this is a domainer-centric way of thinking when there was only a very limited amount of TLD's available. just questioning what it would actually take for the public to go "oh .everything exists" and have it not be a weird thing anymore. you'd need advertising from many different established giants - billboard, tv, radio, internet, the whole nine yards - and it would have to happen all at once.

with thousands of TLD's it could be possible for many business to start using them simultaneously. how likely is it? most seem to feel its very unlikely but the possibility exist now.

It may not take thousands doing it, a few dozen giants can shift the playing field. Imagine seeing even a handful of the consumer products, technology or finance brands making the shift to .brand.

domainers might not even be able to profit off this. i would imagine thats why most are against it. Icann's problem might have just been they wanted money.

Imagine that lol. The new game being a tld'er with a $200k reg fee and many thousands in annual renewals.

 

[Kate]

.Brand may soon after be the status symbol of major companies and the more that follow the lead the more the public "gets it" and only the small guys still use .com vs their own .brand. Times are changing.

Good post.
A while ago I posted that corpTLDs would be the ultimate branding experience. But I think they are going to be marketing tools for the major corporations primarily. Over time they could become more mainstream and less exclusive. But even with the operating costs plummeting sharply in the next few years, it's not feasible to create an extension for every end user in the world.

There are different types of TLDs:

1. corpTLDs: you just addressed that.
2. geoTLDs like .paris .berlin: niche extensions if they ever take off (like .cat). .berlin will never be more valuable than .de.
3. vanity extensions: .free .music .blog .ketchup .lol - this is where I am skeptical: the extensions that will be marketed to the public at large. I think most will not have a bright future. The supply is already greater than the actual demand. The market cannot absorb so many extensions.

In theory #3 is where there may be opportunities for domainers. But they will be very limited.

I think the registrars will play a kingmaker role to some extent. They will promote certain extensions on the front display, that they deem can be profitable to them. There will be winners but they will be outnumbered by the losers.

If you look at the proposals submitted to Icann for .biz .pro .info etc a decade ago, they have all vastly overestimated estimated registration figures, even in their most pessimistic projections. In fact registry business plans are all overoptimistic and unrealistic.

 

[scandiman]

Good post.
A while ago I posted that corpTLDs would be the ultimate branding experience. But I think they are going to be marketing tools for the major corporations primarily. Over time they could become more mainstream and less exclusive. But even with the operating costs plummeting sharply in the next few years, it's not feasible to create an extension for every end user in the world.

There are different types of TLDs:

1. corpTLDs: you just addressed that.
2. geoTLDs like .paris .berlin: niche extensions if they ever take off (like .cat). .berlin will never be more valuable than .de.
3. vanity extensions: .free .music .blog .ketchup .lol - this is where I am skeptical: the extensions that will be marketed to the public at large. I think most will not have a bright future. The supply is already greater than the actual demand. The market cannot absorb so many extensions.

In theory #3 is where there may be opportunities for domainers. But they will be very limited.

Agreed. If .brand is the major driving force to mass awareness it creates new hurdles for the vanity extensions in that the public may think the latest .vanity that is new to them is a major corp they haven't heard of. For example after .brand is etched into the public minds will someone new who sees our lodging.mobi for the first time think we're from the mobi corp? As an end user myself these are some of my concerns with the paradigm shift thats headed our way. So while I welcome the increased awareness of non-com extensions in the US the net benefit to me may largely depend on how effective any of the vanity extensions are.