discuss Why .app when we have app stores?

[FavourB]

Hi everyone,

This question is mainly thrown to the veterans and those who have long time history with domains, i believe from there experience they can render some explanation, not like the owe we the newbie any, but out of curiosity i just wish to know why the .app extension was created.

1&half years into the industry and it still makes no sense to me

So please why .app when we have various app stores?

 

[blogspotter]

I started this thread earleir

https://www.namepros.com/threads/alternative-tlds.1206950/

My thoughts about gTLDs

 

[7363824]

Could you please show us some examples of using app.company.com for PWAs?

I didnt mean app. literally, but just that they use a subdomain rather than a separate domain. Spotify does this for the web version of their player at open.spotify.com

 

[Henry Y]

I didnt mean app. literally, but just that they use a subdomain rather than a separate domain. Spotify does this for the web version of their player at open.spotify.com

You said all the PWAs you have seen are on subdomain .com, but the Spotify example you gave is not a PWA.

 

[FavourB]

You said all the PWAs you have seen are on subdomain .com, but the Spotify example you gave is not a PWA.

Yeah that's true Spotify.app sold for huge figure, got me wondering why the had to spend so much of that when the already gained enough audience and have there app or several app store, is all confusing as to why the did so.

 

[FavourB]

Have you guys looked at adoption? Of all ngTLDs I would venture to say .app is the most natural fit if not the most used.

It's tricky for domainers, Google is playing this one right, there are premiums on great keywords which keeps the names cycling, but the premiums aren't insane like some Donuts names, and they aren't holding "platinum" names back.

I've personally done quite well with .app names and remain a believer. As to why it makes sense when we already have app stores, well, it's ultimately about autonomy. Owning a domain name as opposed to owning a social media handle or a name in an appstore gives you a lot more control and ownership over your brand.



How did you come up with this @Daniel Owens ?

I'm happy you see the opportunity many of us don't do, so what would you advice to look out for before picking this extension, there are many great names left to be picked up, how do you siphone the valuable ones?

 

[dirk]

app was designed to replace .com as the number 1 extension on the web, but it fell short and the registry was seriously considering removing the .app extension all together.

Never happened.

APP is unlikely to take off it is more likely in the near future that apps will replace domains.

It has already taken off.

 

[FavourB]

.app was designed to replace .com as the number 1 extension on the web, but it fell short and the registry was seriously considering removing the .app extension all together. All we can do is hope .ecom will come out soon to replace .com as this is the e-commerce age and .com makes less sense then .ecom. .APP is unlikely to take off it is more likely in the near future that apps will replace domains.

.ecom? that's gonna end up being a failed project and a joke extension just like some extension, I think .info falls into that category, over 50 .info domains in my earlier days, I didn't even get an offer by mistake

 

[dirk]

I think .mobi has more value than .app, like i can understand .mobi can represent the mobile version of a software, like flashscore.mobi and all of that, but .app hell no

Google is gonna loose there second attempt, lets watch out for the 3rd.

You can't compare .mobi to .app. different eras, different endgame for the registry. I'm not particularly fond of .app but you can't deny the successful launch of the TLD. Sales are there.

Google is doing quite well actually. They pick their open TLDs with usage in mind. Although not all as successful (.page) there are some with decent adoptation amongst endusers, like .dev.

 

[FavourB]

You can't compare .mobi to .app. different eras, different endgame for the registry. I'm not particularly fond of .app but you can't deny the successful launch of the TLD. Sales are there.

Google is doing quite well actually. They pick their open TLDs with usage in mind. Although not all as successful (.page) there are some with decent adoptation amongst endusers, like .dev.

To be Frank it was in the course of this thread I got to know about .dev

Seems Google is not tired of creating boring extensions

 

[dirk]

To be Frank it was in the course of this thread I got to know about .dev

Seems Google is not tired of creating boring extensions

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm actually quite fond of .dev .

As boring as some of their TLDs may seem, for Google (unlike most other registries) all their extensions are part of a bigger picture. Some will succeed, some will fail, but ultimately it will give them more power, flexibility and data to control the direction the internet is heading.

 

[FavourB]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm actually quite fond of .dev .

As boring as some of their TLDs may seem, for Google (unlike most other registries) all their extensions are part of a bigger picture. Some will succeed, some will fail, but ultimately it will give them more power, flexibility and data to control the direction the internet is heading.

yeah sure beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

What's your success rate with .dev?

Probably I can see something there to buy and hold off for.

.Dev is built for programmers and coders right?

 

[MadAboutDomains]

Those that have been here for a while saw the hype over .mobi when it was launched. The thing is that it was a very different time, back when the extensions were limited to ccTlds and the original GTLDS and mobile websites resided on the 'm' subdomain and were static monstrosities without character. Every extension that was launched was a huge deal because of the limited number of them.

Back then 'app' wasn't common parlance and 'app stores' didn't exist like they do now and we didn't have the problems that apps cause today, like having to develop the app multiple times and the need to support many platforms. The front end web languages were also just developing or didn't support all of the nice stuff that they do today.

Front end Web development is an entirely different beast, too, it has received a LOT of love since then. We now have HTML5 and CSS3 supported widely and browsers support more things than ever (access to biometrics, camera etc). We have TypeScript for more robust JavaScript with type checking and compilation, we have kit like babel that allows you to write modern modular Javascript and will transpile it down to support old browsers and pollyfills the gaps automatically.

We're at a point now where the gaps between native and Web experiences are being filled in and Google and others are reimaginging how mobile Web experiences can have an app feel about them... and it looks like they're just getting started. The worlds of web and native apps are literally merging together and that's a good thing for innovation.

As for mobi/app now, .mobi registration volumes are half that of .app (300k vs 700k) which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of either extension. The .app extension is the 11th most registered gTLD according to ntldstats.com. When I look at .mobi now it seems strange because its not a common phrase unlike 'app'. I don't think I've seen a modern use of mobi in recent years and even the registry website has been left to rot.

 

[NickB]

Is it me or will Dapp's eventually make App's obsolete?

 

[FavourB]

Is it me or will Dapp's eventually make App's obsolete?

Yeah that's the question just like @MadAboutDomains said about .mobi being obsolete same will apply to .app,

so far app stores still exist and I don't think Google have any plans to stop and focus on building there app store on the .app the created, it wont make sense to app creators, iPhone also has there's up and running, Samsung currently has there's

So this brought me to decide that the .app extension is of no use in this century

Same Google created it, same destroyed it

Google can make use of Google.app and set a trend for others to follow, maybe by then there would be value on .app

I got concerned after I saw a .app sale yesterday on DAN platform, and I was like does this still exist, I went to namebio to look up past sales and it wasn't encouraging.

 

[dirk]

yeah sure beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

What's your success rate with .dev?

Probably I can see something there to buy and hold off for.

.Dev is built for programmers and coders right?

Oh, I wouldn't advice anyone to invest in them. Not a lot of action being reported.

I got a dozen of them when it launched and have 2 or 3 left I think. Made some sales but nothing noteworthy. Nothing that cannot be accomplished with .com but I liked the keywords so couldn't let the opportunity pass

 

[FavourB]

Oh, I wouldn't advice anyone to invest in them. Not a lot of action being reported.

I got a dozen of them when it launched and have 2 or 3 left I think. Made some sales but nothing noteworthy. Nothing that cannot be accomplished with .com but I liked the keywords so couldn't let the opportunity pass

Interesting, your investment actually paid off, but I guess you wont be picking them now again right.

 

[dirk]

Interesting, your investment actually paid off, but I guess you wont be picking them now again right.

Unless it's for personal use, probably not. But you know, if the right name comes along for the right price I just might.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

The thing with the word 'app' is that it is a common word that normal people use to refer to something, unlike dapp which is only known by a minority of geeks referring to the manifestation of the use of underlying blockchain technology.

Given that the average person doesn't generally call apps something different based on their underlying technology (sql vs nosql for example), I don't see why dapp apps would be any different cause the average person doesn't know about such things, they just tap away at the screen regardless of what technology it uses under the hood.

If blockchain tech becomes a mainstay of app development, it'll still be an app to the average person imho

Though there is no stand out reason to host your site on a .app other than if the developer decides that they want to do so, it's not a case of which phrase is most popular at a given time or whether one phrase will beat another or make it obsolete.

 

[Nametree]

I'm happy you see the opportunity many of us don't do, so what would you advice to look out for before picking this extension, there are many great names left to be picked up, how do you siphone the valuable ones?

There are many good names that have been dropped in recent months, some of the early players who bought them by the dozen in early access probably couldn't afford the renewals.

Like with anything else except for .com, the only potentially worthwhile investment is in singular, common, one-word English names. Unfortunately, most that are still available hold $100-1000 yearly renewal price tags. So the economics don't make sense for domainers. The ones that don't have premiums... well, they've been picked over.

I don't have any advice and I wouldn't suggest anyone invest in .app unless you're wiling to hold for a few years. I personally have a few dozen I picked up at release that I'm still holding, and I've picked up some great ones this summer on the drop. I've sold enough to afford to reinvest in some names with higher renewals. So I'm biased, and it might not work out in the long run, but I think we're in a very different time than when mobi was launched and .app has the recognition and the usage no other new TLD has had.

 

[Mr. Deleted]

Google failed with .mobi startup in the past...
So this is their 2nd attempt...