report .app/.com cross-zone analysis

[Kate]

In this exercise we are going to compare .app registrations against .com.
The same exercise can be applied to other nTLDs.

Materials needed:

• .com zone file
• .app zone file

I used today's zone files.
The counts are as follows:

• .com: 133051790 unique domains
• .app: 198097 unique domains

The goal is simple. For every .app domain registered and found in the .app zone file, let's find out if the .com 'counterpart' is registered. For the purpose of this analysis the counterpart means this: domain + 'app' + .com
For example if abc.app is registered, we check if abcapp.com is registered. We could also check if abc.com is registered, as there must be a few domains registered in .app that are available in .com (and other extensions)

I will spare you with the scripting here, and cut to the chase.
Out of 198097 .app domains, 45876 'counterparts' are found in the .com zone file. That is 23.16%.
The difference is 76.84%. So that means that three quarters of all registered .app domains are not registered in their .com 'equivalents', if only for defensive registration purposes.

In my humble opinion, it is not a good idea to register a nTLD while leaving the .com counterpart unregistered. Why: bleeding traffic, defensive registration etc.

Also, buying something.app when somethingapp.com is not even registered suggests that it is a dubious investment in the first place, because the demand for the combo does not even exist in .com.
Again, just imho.

Besides, the vast majority of registered domain in .app probably don't make sense, and are not really usable for any practical purpose.

 

[Kate]

Update:
I ran another compare (still using yesterday's files).
Out of 198097 .app domains, 6392 (3.23%) have their exact matches unregistered in .com (*).
By exact match, I mean the left of the dot, this time not including the string 'app'

For example emergingtechjobs.app is registered but emergingtechjobs.com is available.

(*) However this figure is inflated, because some names registered in .app are not available in .com such as single letters or digits, and also some registered .com domains have no name servers and are therefore missing in the zone files. Domains that are on hold (suspended) are also missing in the zone files.

PS: I have observed a good chunk of Dutch domains in the diff, so they might still be registered in .nl.

 

[Jonathan MacDermid]

Thank you for this detailed work. Really useful to get a handle on things like this.

 

[Vimal Kumar]

@Kate. Here are my thoughts where we are headed...
.
App is a standalone offering. Much like Videos, Maps, Images, News, etc which, has its own search option on Google.com. Currently, the official way to search for Apps is to go into Google Play ( on Phone or desktop) and type the keyword. The results are mostly randomly generated ( many times I see it is auto sorted by highest downloads). There is no structured way the results appear. There is no sorting option. Several apps have the exact same names. Eg: You will find several apps titled 'speed test'.

IMO Google is planning to alter this and give a defined structure to App search results. Frankly, it is long ovedue. Having a .app is the easiest way to resolve this and create a structure.

With security (https) and a structure in place, Apps will be much more safer to use and easy to find.

 

[Kate]

Sorry, but that makes no sense to me, I don't see the problem that we are trying to solve here, or how .app would help.
What I see clumsy attempts to justify the existence of a TLD.

 

[Joe N]

IMO Google is planning to alter this and give a defined structure to App search results. Frankly, it is long ovedue. Having a .app is the easiest way to resolve this and create a structure.

How are they going to do this when there are no restrictions on who can register the TLD, or on how it can be used?

With security (https) and a structure in place, Apps will be much more safer to use and easy to find.

I've always found apps very easily on the Play Store or the App Store. Those platforms are both safe and easy to use. I don't understand how, as an app user, I'm going to benefit from looking up apps via Google, which will redirect be toward various .app sites, which will in turn redirect me toward the established platforms for downloading apps... Where's the user experience in adding all those extra steps?

In my mind, the .app names make the most sense as a TLD that app developers can use to showcase their skills and portfolios. However, as an app user, I couldn't give two craps about that! Just show me the apps so I can download and use them!

Individual users like you and me drive the app market, and we aren't going to care about .app.

 

[Joe N]

Heck just this past week sold two names that aren’t even domains but act like one within Instagram for more than 75,000 for a total of two names.

Does anybody else hear those crickets...?

 

[MadAboutDomains]

Update:
I ran another compare (still using yesterday's files).
Out of 198097 .app domains, 6392 (3.23%) have their exact matches unregistered in .com (*).
By exact match, I mean the left of the dot, this time not including the string 'app'

For example emergingtechjobs.app is registered but emergingtechjobs.com is available.

(*) However this figure is inflated, because some names registered in .app are not available in .com such as single letters or digits, and also some registered .com domains have no name servers and are therefore missing in the zone files. Domains that are on hold (suspended) are also missing in the zone files.

PS: I have observed a good chunk of Dutch domains in the diff, so they might still be registered in .nl.

I'm glad that you did this, because the initial comparison blah.app to blahapp.com isn't worth measuring imho.

Besides, the vast majority of registered domain in .app probably don't make sense, and are not really usable for any practical purpose.

Just cause a lot of idiots registered things that weren't even worth registering even in the .COM, out of excitement, doesn't indicate that the gTLD .APP itself isn't inherently practical for any purpose. It may be that in most cases, perhaps, that .APP is useless as an investment as you stated in your original post, but doesn't render .APP inherently useless.

Like with investments - previous performance isn't an indication of future performance. It's a new extension in a mire of crap(p) extensions, that's for sure, however analysis of the initial numbers of .APP or other gTLDs doesn't really mean that .APP will or won't catch on as a useful extension, or even be a widely recognised extension for websites/app feature pages/web apps over time. Unfortunately there is no way to predict this using the numbers derived from the zone files - but it's the best we've got at this point though I suppose.

Sorry, but that makes no sense to me, I don't see the problem that we are trying to solve here, or how .app would help.
What I see clumsy attempts to justify the existence of a TLD.

I agree that there isn't a problem that this gTLD is trying to solve, but imho nor should it and nor does it claim to or have to, it's just another domain name extension for people to use. Others may be claiming things but it's likely to be fantasy at this point... but again fantasists also don't render the extension useless.

Nothing really renders the .APP gTLD useless unless it becomes highly restrictive or if it gets shuts down.......

 

[Kostas]

@Kate Can you report how many "...app.com" domain names are in the .com zone file? It would be interesting to find out the ratio "...app.com" to "....app" and maybe compare it to other ...tld.com/....tld of tlds with natural growth (mostly donuts owned).

 

[Lawismything]

Does anybody else hear those crickets...?

Hahaha it’s okay, wish I could hop on the .net garage sales for $10 you do on these forums.

 

[Joe N]

Hahaha it’s okay, wish I could hop on the .net garage sales for $10 you do on these forums.

No no, don't do that. Stick with boasting about fictional sales. That's all the rage on the forum these days.

 

[Lawismything]

No no, don't do that. Stick with boasting about fictional sales. That's all the rage on the forum these days.

No need to be fictional. Instagram is a platform where brands and users make use of the most used social app by teenagers.

A little research by you would back my claims up.


Anyways Kate, that’s alot more interesting. So only 3% are unmatched which could possibly be containing words that are foreign for countries like Sweden, Egypt, UAE, Germany and so on. And others could be very specific to apps or the use of a saying for example I’ve noticed people get “theweed.app” as a saying vs theweed.com and a lot of them could just be very weak investments for their own reasons and dumb buys as every tld may have.

 

[Joe N]

No need to be fictional. Instagram is a platform where brands and users make use of the most used social app by teenagers.

A little research by you would back my claims up.

Would love to look into it some more if you could give us the facts of the sale... We could all benefit from that kind of expertise and experience. Which accounts did you sell? Who owned them previously? What steps did you take to sell them? Who purchased them?

I think .app is likely to be another in a long line of disappointing gTLDs, but sales of actual accounts within social media apps is something that has always interested me. Enlighten us.

 

[Lawismything]

Would love to look into it some more if you could give us the facts of the sale... We could all benefit from that kind of expertise and experience. Which accounts did you sell? Who owned them previously? What steps did you take to sell them? Who purchased them?

I think .app is likely to be another in a long line of disappointing gTLDs, but sales of actual accounts within social media apps is something that has always interested me. Enlighten us.

Feel free to PM me, I don’t disclose information like this publicly as it wouldn’t be fair to buyers. Social media “.com’s” have been hot for years and continue to thrive. I’ll be surprised if .app doesn’t have momentum over next two years.

Only gTLD I’ve ever invested in that’s worth it. The others I feel are completly useless in terms of mainstream adaption.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks for sharing the two interesting analyses, @Kate! I learned a lot, both from the analysis and how zone data can be obtained.

While many (me included!) have been excited about the APP launch and lauded Google in general, one thing that should be concerning is that the vast majority of APPs (there are 6 million + altogether, Android + iOS +....) have not yet registered their name in APP. i.e. I have an app called widget but widget.app is not yet registered.

The optimistic way to look at this is that there is lot of potential for APP registration growth.

The pessimistic way is to think that many will decide that their .com, .io, .net, cc, etc. is all they need and not a huge amount more growth will happen.

Bob

 

[Kate]

@Kate Can you report how many "...app.com" domain names are in the .com zone file? It would be interesting to find out the ratio "...app.com" to "....app" and maybe compare it to other ...tld.com/....tld of tlds with natural growth (mostly donuts owned).

178875 domains found. I attached a file.

 

[Vimal Kumar]

Thanks for sharing the two interesting analyses, @Kate! I learned a lot, both from the analysis and how zone data can be obtained.

While many (me included!) have been excited about the APP launch and lauded Google in general, one thing that should be concerning is that the vast majority of APPs (there are 6 million + altogether, Android + iOS +....) have not yet registered their name in APP. i.e. I have an app called widget but widget.app is not yet registered.

The optimistic way to look at this is that there is lot of potential for APP registration growth.

The pessimistic way is to think that many will decide that their .com, .io, .net, cc, etc. is all they need and not a huge amount more growth will happen.

Bob

Widget.app was registered on May 8th

 

[Dave]

Well, if you consider that a TLD has a purpose besides marketing and popularity, you might think otherwise. For .app, having a secure way to enable browser non-ecosystem programs to migrate from the Microsoft desktop to non OS specific devices, it’s a game changer.

No, it isn't a 'game changer'. Do not mislead others with such trope please.

 

[Vimal Kumar]

How are they going to do this when there are no restrictions on who can register the TLD, or on how it can be used?



I've always found apps very easily on the Play Store or the App Store. Those platforms are both safe and easy to use. I don't understand how, as an app user, I'm going to benefit from looking up apps via Google, which will redirect be toward various .app sites, which will in turn redirect me toward the established platforms for downloading apps... Where's the user experience in adding all those extra steps?

.

@Joe Nichols I am unsure what do you mean by "...finding apps very easily on Play Store..". If you open Play Store and search for 'Live Soccer', you will find atleast 30 apps titled exactly 'Live Soccer'. How do you know which one needs to be downloaded? If a friend had recommended you to download 'Live Soccer' app, which one will you download of the 30+ apps?

 

[Joe N]

@Joe Nichols I am unsure what do you mean by "...finding apps very easily on Play Store..". If you open Play Store and search for 'Live Soccer', you will find atleast 30 apps titled exactly 'Live Soccer'. How do you know which one needs to be downloaded? If a friend had recommended you to download 'Live Soccer' app, which one will you download of the 30+ apps?

The one with the best rating.

 

[Joe N]

@Joe Nichols I am unsure what do you mean by "...finding apps very easily on Play Store..". If you open Play Store and search for 'Live Soccer', you will find atleast 30 apps titled exactly 'Live Soccer'. How do you know which one needs to be downloaded? If a friend had recommended you to download 'Live Soccer' app, which one will you download of the 30+ apps?

And how would that experience be made better thanks to .app...??