discuss The Future of Domain Extensions

[PoorKing]

The world has moved from Web to Apps and is slowly moving towards Bots.

.com served the web
.io is the preferred extension for apps
.ai is for bots

In the future we would converse with bots rather than browse the web. Bots may prefer .ai over .com.
Will .com still be king? Your opinion please.

 

[bmugford]

.COM is basically the preferred extension for everything.

There are way more apps using .COM that .IO.
It is not even close.

As long as domains are useful .COM will still be king.

Brad

 

[Kate]

Google is behind .app so it definitely will stay.

Yes, just like .mobi, another Google-sponsored extension. Doesn't mean you must buy any but of course Google won't mind taking your money.

 

[bmugford]

And i would say one who could foresee the value of word 'cloud' was ahead of time.

I sold Cloud.us for well into 5 figures...

Brad

 

[bmugford]

What is the logic to believe that .com will still be king.

Reality.

I will throw in a bonus quote -

"What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."

Brad

 

[Bob Hawkes]

As AI bots serve us content, one might argue that both domain names and extensions will take on less importance. I think however new uses for domain names may emerge such as domain name phrases in social media marketing. And a quality domain name will always have value as the 'signature' of a company.

 

[JB Lions]

The extensions of this generation that can match the success of .com, .net, .org in the future
are .ai, .io, .co. What do you say.

New Member

 

[bmugford]

Alright. Here is a puzzle for you. Without looking up on Estibot match the domains with EstiBot fair market value (USD).

cloud.com cloud.net cloud.us cloud.ai cloud.io cloud.co
$595,000 $46,000 $19,000 $7,500 $5,100 $380

[Hint: cloud.co > cloud.us]

Automated appraisals are meaningless.

Brad

 

[Rick Ace]

The world has moved from Web to Apps and is slowly moving towards Bots.

.com served the web
.io is the preferred extension for apps
.ai is for bots

In the future we would converse with bots rather than browse the web. Bots may prefer .ai over .com.
Will .com still be king? Your opinion please.

Ah yes, it's that time of the year again... a domain extension debate thread.

Here are some of the points that come up in every thread.

• .com is king. Don't question it.
• Yes, other extensions will sell for high prices. Just like any other industry, you need to know when to get in and when to get out.
• Many extensions will fail. There's a good chance that some of these extensions will become more reliable in the future.
• Many people specialize in a variety of different extensions and are good at it. See bullet #2.

I have to say, I enjoy reading these discussions on new extensions and future of extensions, but they tend to cover the same topic.

 

[ecalc]

The primary threat to dot com value isn't other extensions, it's the next global financial crisis like the 2001 bubble or 2008 credit crunch. When that happens, human nature won't change, people will run for the hills when they could load up on discounted p/e blue chip assets. One benefit of such a crisis is an ocean of toxic waste (loans, businesses, domains) disappears.

 

[Julia Aann]

Somewhere your point is valid as time is changing and everything is being Digital so there is no more long time to be When thing will move towards Bots.

.COM will is king but it may be also moved to bots.

 

[Deepak Bhandari]

What about .co ?

 

[Henry Y]

Do you think .app will be the extension for apps in the future?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

While I don't know the stats on extensions used by apps, I suspect many more use com than io, although it is true that io, some ngTLDs and now app also find use.

The more interesting part of the OP question is as more and more AI bots drive what we interact with, what are implications for extensions. My answer is that which extension is used won't matter much. The value of what is there will determine if the bot will direct us there.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Do you think .app will be the extension for apps in the future?

A good question, that I think the jury is still out on. The introduction was clearly successful and Google were masterful in several aspects of that such as starting something new with the security requirement (and owning Chrome, they kind of can influence things!).

The actual world use has been slower so far but it is still just around a half year. As of today there are 161 .app websites in Alexa 1M, or 1 per about 1900 registrations. Better than some extensions, but not nearly as good as many of the new extensions.

It was wildly over-speculated by domain investors, and I think a lot will drop after a year or two. For example, there are over a thousand .app registrations including word crypto and doubt that many crypto apps will be looking for a domain ending in .app.

It is an extension with a clear meaning, a huge company behind it, and has decent early registrations and i would even say resales record so far. There are huge numbers of new apps each week, so the market is there for it to grow.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Yes, just like .mobi, another Google-sponsored extension. Doesn't mean you must buy any but of course Google won't mind taking your money.

Kate's post was correct in that it was Google sponsored, but just to make sure there is not misunderstanding that it was ONLY Google here is the statement re .mobi:

"It was originally financially backed and sponsored by Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Telefónica Móviles, Telecom Italia Mobile, Orascom Telecom, GSM Association, Hutchison Whampoa, Syniverse Technologies, and Visa, with an executive from each company serving on mTLD's board of directors."
​

In that sense .app is somewhat different, although her point is well taken.

 

[Henry Y]

I think .app and .mobi are different.

Google is promoting Progressive Web Apps (PWA) which are app-like websites that can operate in both online and offline environments. .app seems to be a part of the PWA project. Since both PWA and .app need HTTPS requirement, I think Google wants people to use .app for their web apps in the future.

.mobi is just like other extensions that are not released for use of a new web technology.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

"The Internet has always been first and foremost about self-expression, and the dawn of this era of hundreds of new domains marks one of the most unpredictable moments in the history of a highly unpredictable medium."

"Today's new domains are infinitely more open-ended. There will be new homes for creativity, for business, for explorers, comedians and professionals."
​

- Google (admittedly not impartial to new extension success)

from: https://www.registry.google/​

 

[Bob Hawkes]

The idea of starting this discussion was to identify the logical reasons that could lead to devaluation of .COM. Also, to identify other extensions that are good bet for investment.

In my mind ngTLDs will have only minor impact on valuations of com. I think ngTLDs and some general purpose country codes will find niches to grow in, but they will largely be in new ways to use domain names (such as domain name phrases) or with users that already shun com (such as some NGOs and segments of the artistic communities). I think net will feel more pressure.

Quite frankly it is hard to predict extensions that will do well. Registries that can build confidence and interest will do better. If I ran a registry I would appoint a board with strong representation from related professions, get signature respected organizations on board, commit to long term stable renewal pricing, premium is for initial sale only, have educational pricing. But I run no registry!

 

[Grego85]

I believe the whole "This extension has to be for this" will go away. Just like you cant generalize people, you cant generalize extensions.

For example..

How many companies have a brand name that ends with "solutions" or "services" or "direct" or a bunch of other existing ngtld extensions? A BUNCH of them. You dont need to be any specific type of business to nescesarily use a particular extension. The only requirement is that you want to more efficiently build a brand name. A brand with no filler like .net or .org at the end, extensions that dont actually really mean anything. (any meaning they were supposed to have were abandoned back at the beginning, due to a lack of overall choice in extensions)

The only thing currently stopping that new found efficiency is a lack of familiarity. A lack of familiarity isnt any reason to ignore moving forward, not for innovators. Innovators are the ones that make money. Just like McDonalds innovating the speed system in a time of diners. Their learning curve seemed impossible at first, but you know how that ended up. How many diners are left now?

If my business name is brand solutions, the best possible name is brand.solutions. But a shit ton of other brands would also be doing well to use .solutions, not just a branding company.

 

[jmcc]

.com served the web

Even .COM has competition with ccTLDs at a local level.

.io is the preferred extension for apps

Not really. There's a lot of promotion for this ccTLD but there's also a .APP new gTLD for apps. And it does seem to be gaining some registrations.

.ai is for bots

Again, this is a ccTLD with low visibility. Amazon also has a .BOT new gTLD.

The future of gTLDs is a complex topic even for those with the data.

Regards...jmcc

 

[PoorKing]

Do you think .app will be the extension for apps in the future?

Google is behind .app so it definitely will stay. But bots will rule the cyberspace!

 

[PoorKing]

Reality.

I will throw in a bonus quote -

"What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."

Brad

And i would say one who could foresee the value of word 'cloud' was ahead of time.

 

[Corey]

I am enjoying researching for names in the .app space & the challenge of setting up SSL too + new style landing pages.

Cheers
Corey

 

[Kate]

And yet no mention of ccTLDs.
'nuff said.