Dark_One said:
i believe the .net extension is dying, people these days are more interested in the .com extension, like for example, if they search for a domain and only the .net is available they are more likely to search for a different name until the .com is available.
The figures do not bear you out. Dot net is making steady progress with over now over 5.5m registrations, more than 3x the fully subscribed registrations of dot info.
Dot net has suffered as Verisign have had little vested interest in promoting it over dot com, but there will always be a discerning group who, whilst unwilling or unable to pay a hefty premium for a good dot com will not settle for a string of alpha-numeric soup.
The almost inevitable reallocation of dot net to a new registry will raise the profile of dot net and make it the focus of intensive marketing. I think we can look forward to dot net hitting 10m over the next 12-18months.
Regards
Dave Wrixon
DryHeat said:
Ditto...with an addition that within 5 years, .us will be either as coveted or more so than .com in the US, IMO.
On the other hand, .info and .biz are only other genuine gTLDs that are out there besides the older three with the chances of additional gTLDS being introduced pretty non-existent over next few years; this leaves the ever-expanding internet community left with existing gTLDs, true ccTLDs, ccTLDs marketed as wanabe gTLDs, and sponsored (s)TLDs....of these, the first two have much brighter prospects than the latter two.
Dream on! Difficult to understand why dot US has been so remarkably unsuccessful, even failing to outshine the ccTLDs marketed as wanabe gTLDs. At the moment it is drifting listlessly below the 1M mark and is loosing ground on dot biz, which has a similarly undistinguished record. Unfortunately, you only get one chance to make a first impression and both dot US and dot BIZ would appear to have blown it!
No TLD will ever outshine dot com because it is almost synoynous with the internet, but there will be a trade off between the quality of the TLD and the availability of a good second level string. Although, there will be fashion sensitive exceptions, it is very difficult to find brandable, compelling or marketable unregistered domains at the dot com registry. The secondary market, however, will continue to thrive for those who have been able to make useful acquisitions.
No prizes for guessing which TLD will start to attract significantly more registrations, once the frustration over registering useful domains at dot com really starts to bite. Is that dot US or a squadron of flying pigs?
Regards
Dave Wrixon
