news Google uses a .XYZ for their new parent company Alphabet - the Internet melts

[DomainVP]

Multiple news outlets are reporting that "Google" has decided to change their parent company name to "Alphabet" and has launched it on the domain ABC.XYZ.

I have seen many companies that operate multiple businesses under one umbrella and also use terrible domains without ever intending to own the exact match .COM - but for Google, this move is surprising.

It’s a win for Daniel Negari and selling one of the few domains that the .XYZ registry is good for: the alphabet. The other being abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw.xyz

I think Google summed it up by saying, "[we make] smaller bets in areas that might seem very speculative or even strange when compared to our current businesses.”

As this story unravels, I’m sure Mr. Negari will have a larger role to play within Alphabet, possibly even heading their .google extension when Google decides that we should all be using a .google instead of .COM.

Speculation for a speculative move.


From the announcement G is for Google:

What is Alphabet? Alphabet is mostly a collection of companies. The largest of which, of course, is Google . . . companies that are pretty far afield of our main Internet products [will be] contained in Alphabet instead.

Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet. Our two classes of shares will continue to trade on Nasdaq as GOOGL and GOOG.

Don’t worry, we’re still getting used to the name too!

Your thoughts?

 

[JB Lions]

As I said earlier, it would be interesting to see the numbers on this and I think today and tomorrow will give a better picture. Because the number that was posted for yesterday earlier in the thread, 5,975, is complete failure to me because they were already averaging over 5,000 a day the week before all of this - https://namestat.org/xyz

Then, I read an interview yesterday where Daniel said he did something like 250 in under a minute. So I wanted to do the math and imagine if he did that every minute for a day. That would be 360,000. So 5,975 seems way low.

The problem is, this has been in General Availability for over a year now. I would hope domainers did their thing and registered all the premium type keywords long ago and some are being held by the registry? So if people go to hand reg, they'll run into the same problems as most other extensions, good keywords long gone.

Even I expected the numbers to be a lot higher and they very well might be the next few days.

 

[svede]

As I said earlier, it would be interesting to see the numbers on this and I think today and tomorrow will give a better picture. Because the number that was posted for yesterday earlier in the thread, 5,975, is complete failure to me because they were already averaging over 5,000 a day the week before all of this - https://namestat.org/xyz

Then, I read an interview yesterday where Daniel said he did something like 250 in under a minute. So I wanted to do the math and imagine if he did that every minute for a day. That would be 360,000. So 5,975 seems way low.

The problem is, this has been in General Availability for over a year now. I would hope domainers did their thing and registered all the premium type keywords long ago and some are being held by the registry? So if people go to hand reg, they'll run into the same problems as most other extensions, good keywords long gone.

So, we'll see next couple of days, even I expected the numbers to be a lot higher and they very well might be.

And as I said before, just because there is a boost doesn't mean much. These are domainers (for the most part) rushing to buy them. What will be the tell-tale is whether these domains start selling to endusers. If a steep uptick in regs shows to be sustainable, this may be indicative of it, but hard to see. I don't buy based on hype.

 

[Felisk]

anyone registering .xyz domains because of this is going to lose money.

All the best .XYZs are regged anyway... Let's just wait for .789

 

[JB Lions]

And as I said before, just because there is a boost doesn't mean much. These are domainers (for the most part) rushing to buy them. What will be the tell-tale is whether these domains start selling to endusers. If a steep uptick in regs shows to be sustainable, this may be indicative of it, but hard to see. I don't buy based on hype.

Yep, I remember some other thread going thru the sales and there just weren't any big ones*, and then the numbers were posted again in this thread. Another thing I want to look at, is if they get more U.S. regs because somebody who markets themselves as the next .com should do better than 7%+ U.S. regs, it's like 70% China.

 

[Felisk]

Seriously tho, I'd like seeing XYZ rise in value since I own a few, but to be honest, Google only chose this extension because ABC.XYZ is a nice play for Alphabet. If the company name was different, I doubt they would choose .XYZ.

Now, I think .XYZ might become more popular only if some other companies build on that extention. One thing we're sure of tho, it will take time.

 

[Harry77]

the most interesting thing is that developpers don't ask themselves if they have an education or experience in 'marketing' and / or naming when they are giving advice to siteowners, in general the decision is made by the owner, but what if they hire a consultant in naming ? things are becoming complex and maybe it's time to ask to go to see a namer then come back with the name and not just say :'ok, let's invent a name'.... ? instead investing in a cool webdesign and fix security would be better....

I'm not a big player and that's not my main business but actually I made websites only for existing small factories or stores, most of them had a name before the web existed and I have to use that for the domain, I was just saying that even google don't kow if .xyz will be around in 4 years. I agree with you but a consultant for the brand is a thing for big company and obviously for a new brand.

 

[asset.domains]

I'm not a big player and that's not my main business but actually I made websites only for existing small factories or stores, most of them had a name before the web existed and I have to use that for the domain, I was just saying that even google don't kow if .xyz will be around in 4 years. I agree with you but a consultant for the brand is a thing for big company and obviously for a new brand.

the ngtld arrived because there is no enough room for standard gtld and because of market demand ( we are not discussing which one will succeed or not ) the marketing is also dynamic thing, companies can be renamed, and with the coming of newtld's it is an occasion, why not partner with naming / SEO hackers to get the right name that will boost online visits ? dev's will protect themselves and concentrate more on dev ( a coordinated team work of course, because the design, logo design depend on the name... ) companies can also be merged or divided, a SEO test of the company client site is a good thing to do, but what if they are not asking for that ? it's here the opportunity ....

 

[carob]

I'm not a big player and that's not my main business but actually I made websites only for existing small factories or stores, most of them had a name before the web existed and I have to use that for the domain, I was just saying that even google don't kow if .xyz will be around in 4 years. I agree with you but a consultant for the brand is a thing for big company and obviously for a new brand.

I would not build a site on these new extensions. It's been said: each extension has just a few desirable names, maybe not enough to cover the costs of running the extension. Many will go bust - .mobi went bust even with 1m registrations.

 

[Joseph Green]

Interesting:

The leasing and fleet management company, owned by BMW, told Fleet News: “The possibility of any trademark infringement is currently under review.”

The leasing company’s website – www.alphabet.com – struggled to initially cope with traffic after Google announced the new parent company’s name, with people mistakenly thinking the car leasing site was something to do with the tech company.​

Full article: Trademark concerns after Google names new parent company Alphabet

Initially? Alphabet.com is still struggling to load as of this post, 24 hours after the announcement.

 

[Nebulous]

I saw this in the comments on Tech Crunch, but there was no explanation for it. Can someone who understands code explain why a hidden hooli.xyz link is randomly placed in the source code?

Are they trolling us?

 

[Kate]

It a firm endorsement by google in the new gTLDs .... good news for new gTLD investors.

Actually a good chunk of Fortune 500 have bought .jobs domains, and that was a long time ago. Perhaps the initial intention was just defensive registrations but there are nonetheless a number of resolving websites in .jobs, run by high-profile companies.
Just saying.
Would you call that an endorsement too ?

Of course I am not suggesting that you should invest in .jobs domains. And obviously the example from above didn't make .jobs mainstream at all. And yet .jobs doesn't suck as much a string. At least it makes sense, where .xyz is silly.

 

[Nattydomain]

I just thought about it. When you tell someone your website you hardly ever use the WWW before it. In passing when telling someone about A website you can say like Dogs.blah blah blah meaning when they speak of alphabet.xyz they could be seeing he .XYZ as blah blah blah and not even thinking about it and going to dot com version. Just a thought

 

[S-B]

I saw this in the comments on Tech Crunch, but there was no explanation for it. Can someone who understands code explain why a hidden hooli.xyz link is randomly placed in the source code?

Are they trolling us?

That's a standard HTML link.

They may very well be trolling. :P

 

[S-B]

That's a standard HTML link.

They may very well be trolling. :P

Actually, if you look at the footer... it is owned by HBO.

©2015 HOME BOX OFFICE, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. HBO® AND RELATED CHANNELS AND SERVICE MARKS ARE THE PROPERTY OF HOME BOX OFFICE, INC.

 

[Felisk]

I saw this in the comments on Tech Crunch, but there was no explanation for it. Can someone who understands code explain why a hidden hooli.xyz link is randomly placed in the source code?

Are they trolling us?

Just an easter egg. They appear to really like the Hooli show.

 

[Nebulous]

@Shane Bellone Yea I got that it was just a standard link, but I didn't understand why it would be there. Hooli.xyz is used for a company on the show Silicon Valley, that's why the footer says that.

@Felisk

After doing a little looking around I guess that's exactly what it is.

http://flavorwire.com/532332/google-gives-hbos-silicon-valley-a-hidden-shout-out

 

[NameFu]

Google giving a "shout out" to Silicon Valley is like Big Bird giving a shout out to Sesame Street lol...Am I missing something? Seriously this smells fishy.

 

[Nebulous]

Google giving a "shout out" to Silicon Valley is like Big Bird giving a shout out to Sesame Street lol...Am I missing something? Seriously this smells fishy.

Silicon Valley the show, not the area :p

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/aug/11/google-silicon-valley-spinal-tap-tech

 

[Fancy.domains]

All the best .XYZs are regged anyway... Let's just wait for .789

Yeah, I got the last one from you! :D

 

[NameFu]

All this hidden link nonsense is to distract us from the fact that the the most valuable company in the world couldn't manage to get the dot com of it's parent company (not very impressive) , it's all smoke and mirrors!

 

[S-B]

All this hidden link nonsense is to distract us from the fact that the the most valuable company in the world couldn't manage to get the dot com of it's parent company (not very impressive) , it's all smoke and mirrors!

They aren't the most valuable company in the world. :P

 

[DomainGist]

All this hidden link nonsense is to distract us from the fact that the the most valuable company in the world couldn't manage to get the dot com of it's parent company (not very impressive) , it's all smoke and mirrors!

Alphabet.com is owned by BMW, who are a bigger company than Google (in terms of both annual revenue and total asset value).

How exactly are you proposing Google obtain it?

Google is not the most valuable company in the world, by the way, Apple is..... by far.

 

[S-B]

Alphabet.com is owned by BMW, who are a bigger company than Google (in terms of both annual revenue and total asset value).

How exactly are you proposing Google obtain it?

Google is not the most valuable company in the world, by the way, Apple is..... by far.

Correct on the Apple remark but totally incorrect about BMW being bigger than Google.

http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/

 

[Nebulous]

Correct on the Apple remark but totally incorrect about BMW being bigger than Google.

http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/

BMW is ranked 16th while VW is only ranked 67th?

That doesn't make much sense.

EDIT: Sorry, I'm completely off topic now.

 

[DomainGist]

Correct on the Apple remark but totally incorrect about BMW being bigger than Google.

http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/

Eh?

I think you'll find I'm totally correct about BMW having larger annual revenues and a larger total asset value, which is what I actually said.

What your link shows is a list of publicly listed companies sorted by market capitalization, which is why Dell is missing from the list, what with it being privately held. Furthermore, that lists what Forbes perceives as 'brands', which they have decided not to define.

That's the only way to place a 'value' on a business, the market deciding what its worth, and it is only by that measure that Apple comes out on top..... because tech is in a big bubble.

Here's a better list:

http://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/#tab:overall

Apple in 12th, when factoring in sales, profit, and assets, alongside 'market value'.

Google in 39th, and BMW in 45th..... but only because of the inflated price of Tech shares, which many will argue are in a bubble.

BMW have far higher revenues and far higher total asset value, which is what I said.....