an interesting thread this will be. we are in uncharted territory with .asia domains. but i have seen a lot of domains being registered. i typed in Japanese and english. a lot were taken. I get the feeling that this extension has done much more than .mobi. A lot of asian companies prefer working with other asian companies as the culture is closer to each other than the wester world. having a .asia works better as it recognizes the asian community rather than with .eu, .biz, .tv, etc. They missed out on .com as new asian companies were formed after the .com boom. where else can they go? yea, they can stick to their cctld, but they want to expand.
lets say it like this. .com never existed. there was only .eu, .in, .us. suddenly there was a new extension for the western world. .com. would you simply stick to .eu, .in, .us? certainly no. you would go with .com as you and your company want to expand outside of your country. Interstingly, there is no extension for the Americas. but if there were to be a new extension for the Americas (.a, .america, .amr, whatever) surely you would buy something.
I think that we are in extremely new territory with .asia. now its quite silent. but i have been doing searches in japanese and a lot have been taken. too bad its in the English language, but basic and simple English (prime), they are mostly taken.
i recall someone mentioning that it may take a few years for .asia to kick off. i think so too. But what is scary is that a lot of prime and simple english keyword .asia names are already gone. do a check for yourself. Also keep in mind that Asians are very well organized, prepared, and think VERY carefully in making moves instead of acting on impulses. so if you have a .asia called "YesLoan.asia" or "BankCheck", you just wasted a nice 6-pack of beer. The thinking is different.
Im simply helping this community to be careful when buying names with asian extensions. if you have never been to an asian country nor know nothing about asia, dont buy any .asia domains unless they are very prime.
Also, i am not sure about other asian countries about reselling except for Japan. Japan sees reselling and selling domains as an illegal activity - socially. Large companies really dont care, but sometimes they are really really stubborn. if you own sony.asia, they may not even pay you $1, but they would rather pay $5,000 to WIPO. In otherwords, this is like convencing your grandmother that weed is good and you should smoke this with your family on Christmas. Hard to convince them, right? well, it is similar to this. But if you know and have a good business strategy in the asian way, then you are ok.
damn this is so hard to explain. can someone from India, China, Korea or anyone from asia explain this?