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Starting next year unlimited numbers of new domain extensions are scheduled to be sold and some will be up and running by then. We always assumed major brands such as .sears .apple .microsoft .hp .godaddy .ibm and many others would want to own their own extension, not necessarily to sell domains but for their own product, use and branding.
Now we am hearing many reports about large U.S. and international cities including the cities of .tokyo .sydney .newyork .sandiego .vegas and others planning to also buy their very domain extension. At an initial cost of $185k it may seem high to you or me but to a large corporation or big city it is not too significant a cost.
Having heard about many major cities with plans to buy their own extensions it would seem logical the end-effect will be to greatly devalue the domainer or investor owned geo dot comβs, including mid-size city dot-coms.
The smaller or mid-size cities may not want to invest now or be able to budget $185k but they will likely do so as the ICANN price drops (and I am sure the fee will decline rather quickly and dramatically within a few years).
At that time I believe you will also see many mid-size cities such as Palm Springs, Burbank and Scottsdale for example, getting their own extensions. Itβs also possible they may not wait for lower costs and instead apply soon, agreeing to pay the 185k ICANN fee.
Think about this scenario; A visitor (or resident) in Scottsdale Arizona knows many cities now own their own domain so would he be more inclined to typein to a search box or the browser window βScottsdale.comβ or the word βScottsdaleβ without an extension? In our opinion there is little doubt as time goes by the word Scottsdale will prevail as the most popular choice, relegating Scottsdale.com to 2nd tier status, which dot-com decline would be ongoing and the scottsdale.com down-trend be more pronounced as time goes by.
In our opinion, this news marks the beginning of a very significant and long term bear market (a likely permanent major drop in geo domain values), impacting mid to large city Geo domains in particular. We would expect a number of them to go on the auction block soon before the Geo's decline more in value.
Now we am hearing many reports about large U.S. and international cities including the cities of .tokyo .sydney .newyork .sandiego .vegas and others planning to also buy their very domain extension. At an initial cost of $185k it may seem high to you or me but to a large corporation or big city it is not too significant a cost.
Having heard about many major cities with plans to buy their own extensions it would seem logical the end-effect will be to greatly devalue the domainer or investor owned geo dot comβs, including mid-size city dot-coms.
The smaller or mid-size cities may not want to invest now or be able to budget $185k but they will likely do so as the ICANN price drops (and I am sure the fee will decline rather quickly and dramatically within a few years).
At that time I believe you will also see many mid-size cities such as Palm Springs, Burbank and Scottsdale for example, getting their own extensions. Itβs also possible they may not wait for lower costs and instead apply soon, agreeing to pay the 185k ICANN fee.
Think about this scenario; A visitor (or resident) in Scottsdale Arizona knows many cities now own their own domain so would he be more inclined to typein to a search box or the browser window βScottsdale.comβ or the word βScottsdaleβ without an extension? In our opinion there is little doubt as time goes by the word Scottsdale will prevail as the most popular choice, relegating Scottsdale.com to 2nd tier status, which dot-com decline would be ongoing and the scottsdale.com down-trend be more pronounced as time goes by.
In our opinion, this news marks the beginning of a very significant and long term bear market (a likely permanent major drop in geo domain values), impacting mid to large city Geo domains in particular. We would expect a number of them to go on the auction block soon before the Geo's decline more in value.