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"A Detailed Look at The New TLDs"
By: Lee Hodgson
The seven new global top-level domain names (gTLDs) announced late last year by ICANN are now just months away from being available. It's time to look at the names individually and see what impact they
are likely to make on the web. Three of the seven are very much niche names:
dot Aero for the air-transport industry.
dot Museum for museums.
dot Co-op for business co-operatives.
They will be important within their respective industries, but have limited impact elsewhere. The other four names: dot biz, dot info, dot pro, and dot name are worth examining more closely.
Dot Biz
Purpose: Businesses only
Applicant: NeuLevel - http://www.neulevel.com Here's what the applicants, NeuLevel, say about who will be able to register names using their system:
(i) "The TLD shall be restricted to any individual,
organization, or entity that desires to advertise their business and/or conduct commercial activities on the Internet."
(ii) The registrant will be required to state that "the name is reasonably
related to the registrant's business, and that the domain name will be used for commercial purposes only"
So really this domain is not much different from the original purpose of the dot com suffix.
Contrary to what I reported in last month's article, dot biz names are not going to cost $2000 to register, but are expected to be priced in line with current dot com prices. Given that, are they an attractive
proposition for a new site? Well, if you can find a good short dot biz name,
perhaps, but consider the potential downside:
1) The short name you locate might well have an active dot com site
already up and running. By launching the dot biz version, you may well confuse your customers, and lose a lot of them to the established dot com equivalent.
2) By using such a new name, you are instantly
flagging site visitors that you have just launched online. Given that consumer confidence amongst Net users is currently running very low, this is not a great way to gain credibility with your potential customers.
Predicted uptake rate: Gradual uptake over a number of years.
Bottom line advice: If you are considering running an eCommerce site, register or buy a dot com name instead.
Dot Info
Purpose: General use (Unrestricted gTLD)
Applicant: Afilias, LLC - http://www.afilias.com The applicants for this name, Afilias, a joint venture containing 19 different domain registrars, actually submitted three names for consideration: dot info, dot web, and dot
site. They clearly stated in their proposal that dot web was their preferred name, and indeed, this would have been a highly marketable domain name. For whatever reason, ICANN ignored the applicant's wishes and awarded
them the 'plain Jane' dot info instead. Frankly, a duller sounding name would be hard to imagine.
In keeping with the generic nature of the name, dot info domains will be freely available for anyone to register.
The name will obviously find some kind of a market amongst content/resource sites, but few site owners currently running dot com sites are going to spend money changing their name to dot info. Therefore the only real
takers for this suffix will be companies launching new sites. And again, the problem that exists with dot biz exists here as well: why risk your site's credibility using a new dot info name, when there are still
dot com names to be had.
Predicted uptake rate: Very slow.
Bottom line advice: Great for hobby sites.Dot Pro
Purpose: Qualified professionals only
Applicant: RegistryPro LTD - http://www.registrypro.com
Here's what RegistryPro said about the dot pro domain name
in their application:
"RegistryPro's mission is to create a reliable, sustainable registry of professionals such as doctors, lawyers and
accountants by utilizing concrete registration requirements linked to evidence of professional qualifications."
What they intend to do is to have three sub-domains:
.cpa.pro
.law.pro
.med.pro
They will then let accountants, lawyers, and medical doctors register names in the appropriate sub-domain. RegistryPro plans to work closely with professional bodies to ensure that only qualified people are allowed
to register one of these names. The idea is that professionals utilizing the dot pro name will have the trust of the public, because only qualified people are able to register the names.
This concept is a noble
aspiration, attempting to brand the dot pro name as trustworthy, but is it really feasible? Can RegistryPro ever hope to maintain sufficient control of the name? Will they be able to ensure the integrity of each
applicant? And what happens to the domain names / email address beyond the registration point. Can they really ensure 100% that registrants are true professionals?
On the Internet, scams artists, forgers, and
impersonators have found an anonymous home. Sooner or later some rogue is going to get hold of a dot pro web site or email address and use it to scam customers. Once this happens, the trust that RegistryPro and its
customers care so much about will be hard to repair.
Predicted Uptake: Once the marketing program kicks in, professionals will be queuing up to get their dot pro name.Dot Name
Applicant: Global Name Registry, LTD
Purpose: Personal registrations
The dot name system has been designed from the outset for personal registrations. What Global Name Registry has decided to do is only accept
registrations on the third level. For example Smith.Name will not be registerable. Only Steve.Smith.Name. They have done this mainly to reduce the likelihood of domain speculators buying up all the common surnames, and
selling them on to others.
But with this system, there is still going to be a big problem with namespace availability. For example, how many John Smiths are there in the world? I don't have the exact number, but
it is certainly more than one, yet one only person can register John.Smith.Name. So who gets it? The first person to successfully register will be able to use the name, and because we are dealing with personal names,
there is very little chance that trademarks or any other form of protection will be involved. It will be a real free for all. And what will all the other John Smiths use? Probably something like the system currently
employed by web-based email, so there would be John55.Smith.Name. Hardly ideal, and I shudder to think how much email the owner of John.Smith.Name will receive. The possibilities for email spammers are simply enormous.
They will be able to guess real email addresses just by using a name database.
Despite the potential problems, there is a real chance that .Name will become the global standard domain for personal registrations,
for personal websites + personal email addresses. And the prices are likely to be equal or lower than current dot com registrations.
Predicted Uptake Rate: Extremely Rapid
When can we expect to see all
these new domain names? Well, most applicants predicted a wait of six months or more after signing contracts, before they could have a system read to go. Since no contracts have yet been signed, third quarter is the
earliest we can expect any of these names to actually go live, and some may be delayed into 2002.
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If you have any questions about domain names or the coming new global domain, please
email me lee@domainguidebook.com Visit the
DomainGuideBook site, http://www.domainguidebook.com
to keep up to date with the latest happenings in the domain name world. |
