Reason for .io boom?

[pdevananth]

Generic Country Code Top Level Domains
Google treats some ccTLDs (such as .tv, .me, etc.) as gTLDs, as we've found that users and webmasters frequently see these more generic than country-targeted. Here is a list of those ccTLDs (note that this list may change over time).

.ad
.as
.bz
.cc
.cd
.co
.dj
.fm
.io
.la
.me
.ms
.nu
.sc
.sr
.su
.tv
.tk
.ws

 

[brandnow]

I wonder why .us is not on there? As some people use .us as a gtld if the .com, .net, and .org are taken.

 

[BostonDomainer]

.io is not a boom. It just happens to be hot for the moment because a number of start-ups started using it for their names. Some keen domainers took notice, through up a few stats and thus created a manufactured demand. The "boom" as you call it. This too in time will correct itself. i.e .LY etc

 

[HoloNames]

Google I/O ?

According to wiki their events started in 2008.

When did the .io boom start ?

I noticed it more closely with laravel.io , not so much before that.

Personally, I don't like it very much, but one thing that I like about .io is that it sounds neutral, almost "robotic"

 

[Acroplex]

Dot .io was created by techies, in reference to the i/o (input/output). Consequently, tech start-ups thought it was cooler than e.g. .ly as there are only so many words that end in those two letters, plus Libya isn't exactly US-friend.ly

 

[sofiapartner]

it's a flippa fake boom.

 

[JayJay]

some of us have made some decent io sales outside of flippa and to very real end users but I agree there is also a bit of suspicious activity going on.

 

[Beezy]

Up until about a year ago startups and solopreneurs could register a good one that would cost thousands if it was a .co or tens of thousands if it was a .com. So it caught on.

 

[Acroplex]

You realize you can most likely register keyword+io.com or even io+keyword.com for legitimate corporate usage.

 

[Keith]

Don't shoot me for giving my opinion but I really feel that .io will fade sooner than later. Cash in now or risk a .mobi like catastrophe.

 

[pdevananth]

somehow i feel .co is much better than .io

 

[domains here]

Start ups are using .io

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

I like .io because the price is high enough to reduce squatting but still is very affordable, and frequently when the .com / .net are taken and either in active use or the squatter wants a lot of money to transfer it, the .io is available.

I am careful with ccTLDs / gTLDs because I know the TLD can do stuff like change the authoritative nameservers, create a valid DNSSEC DS record, etc. so I won't use a TLD operated by a country or company that I don't trust (e.g. has done shady things like many TLDs have) - .io appears to be trustworthy.