Will it ever come to the point where any premium tld is unbelievably valuable?

[Andrew Shaw]

Will it ever come to the point where any premium tld is unbelievably valuable?

One thing I'm wondering, with the rate the internet is going right now... I've heard, not sure if its true or not... that the internet is growing in size by 15% every month.

Is it possible that a presence online will become so hard to come by that other tld's will be forced out of the shadows?

Lets just think about this... Lets say that right now, there are 9 million internet users. 9,000,000 * .15% = thats 600,000 people per month?

Again, 15% per month may not even be correct. But I know its a hell of a lot of people. The number of PC's per household is also increasing... which leads to the increase in internet usage worldwide.

With so many people gaining access, and wanting to show there presence online. Whats going to happen when this business grows just a little bit more, and .com's are even harder to come by? More and more people are joining this business every day. I've been shocked to see so many 2007 signups.
With more people, comes less supply. With more demand prices go up... and then flood to other neighboring suppliers?

I know .com will always be the most sought after... and the increase in buyers and sellers I feel is going to make any premium .com unbelievably valuable... but wont it also push or force companies or even individuals to look elsewhere?

I'd like to get some seasoned domainers to give thier thoughts.

 

[hugegrowth]

Not sure if I'm a 'seasoned' domainer, but I have been following the industry closely since getting back in 2005. I'd say since the internet is a totally new creature, nobody really knows where it will be in 3 or 5 or 10 years. Assuming domain names are still needed like today, what will there be left to hand reg that is any good in the future? More tlds could be created, but they don't seem to be adopted very quickly by end users. The domain aftermarket will surpass fresh regging in dollar terms, and quality domains will keep rising in value if the internet and domains continue to be used like today. Anybody in the future who wants to start a website needs a good domain for it.

 

[karter9977]

Probably cant call me a seasoned domainer but ill throw in some input.

Like you said .com's will always be the king and they will always keep increasing. As for the other tld's, I think .info, .net and .org will also continue to increase unbelievably. I also see popular country extensions increasing aswell like for an example .de

As for companies looking elsewhere... Domains are investments, I think that large companies and small companies would be willing to pay the price for a .com. I mean if the .com is 100k and the .net is 10k, they might as well spend the extra 90k becuase they will get that money back from sales through their site, .com = more traffic. Also like I said its an investment, they pay 100k for the .com and in 5 years it could be worth 1mil. And if for some reason the site doesnt work out they could easily sell off the name for a decent profit.

As for the tld that arent common now and as for future tlds, I honestly dont see them making their way to an enduser. Like always their values will probably rise becuase of the reseller/domain market but eventually imo they will probably decrease in value because of the lack of endusers.

Just my 2cents.

 

[carlton]

Is it possible that a presence online will become so hard to come by that other tld's will be forced out of the shadows? .. With more people, comes less supply. With more demand prices go up... and then flood to other neighboring suppliers? ... wont it also push or force companies or even individuals to look elsewhere?

Yes to all of this. Your instincts are accurate.

Most all of the major tld's will continue to rise in value - particularly the pure generics and keyword phrases. Ignore the naysayers because non-com extensions are already being adopted by individuals and businesses for the very reasons you point out. I see this first hand on the net and in my local community.

 

[QuantumBeam]

Whats even more interesting is that there have been over 80 views so far & only 3 replies to this thread. Perhaps everyone is to uncertain ? Or does someone know something they are not telling us ? ?......:spy:

 

[zorag]

I can see see the internet being cut up into states/counties/cities due to the shear need for localization based on the massive amount of users - think Yellow Pages. This would mean that ALL IDN's and extensions will rocket in value as local businesses move for ownership - buy ANY premiums now and you WILL profit big time in 5 years!!

 

[sashas]

I really don't see domaining as a long term prospect. I cannot imagine domains to be that important 15 years down the line...would you really access the internet in the same way that you do today?

My philosophy is to make money here and invest it into a more stable field like real estate. You can't beat the value in tangible goods

 

[zorag]

I really don't see domaining as a long term prospect. I cannot imagine domains to be that important 15 years down the line...would you really access the internet in the same way that you do today?

My philosophy is to make money here and invest it into a more stable field like real estate. You can't beat the value in tangible goods

Two things here:

1. Companies and conglomerates have invested billions on domain names to secure identity, why would they ever invest if it was all to be taken away or left to one side. You could also speculate that they have the final say too with the power of the money already spent.

2. There will ALWAYS need to be an understandable and pronounceable name for any destination on the net "unless we were all cloned into IP talking number crunching Borg" :wink:

 

[katherine]

I really don't see domaining as a long term prospect. I cannot imagine domains to be that important 15 years down the line...would you really access the internet in the same way that you do today?

My philosophy is to make money here and invest it into a more stable field like real estate. You can't beat the value in tangible goods

I see your point. But I think domains will still be around in 15 years. In 50 years that's another story. Actually I think that with convergence of technology domains are going to play an ever-increasing role.
Right now a URL is like a business card and optionally a store. Tomorrow it will be the gateway to contact an individual, maybe it could even replace telephone numbers for example (and I'm not even talking about the .tel TLD btw).

I think the years ahead will be bright and we should all be delighted to be part of that thriving, fast-moving industry that is like no other
in any event diversification is wise.

 

[sashas]

I don't really think that the internet is going to remain the same for the next 15 years.

And herein lies the big question. Will most domainers be able to adapt to the changes?

Changing technology and interfaces have a remarkable effect of dissolving long standing companies and springing new ones. Not all companies/individuals are able to evolve with the change. Think of all the big technological revolution in our times: movies, telephone, TV, mobiles...not every company was able to change and modify itself with the changing technologies...I don't believe I have to give examples; its self apparent.

The real pros in this business should be able to evolve and change themselves to whatever change happnes in this industry

 

[hugegrowth]

since tvs came out you've always needed a channel number.

since phones came out you've always needed a phone number.

since radio was invented you always need a station number.

street addresses the same, you need a house number or PO box.

with the internet, each site has an IP number, but it's too long to remember each IP number for every site you visit, so we use domain names to point to the IP number. If you have a site on the internet and you want to tell someone how to reach it, I can't think of anything that would replace a domain name for that purpose.

I can see more extensions cropping up, like we have now for countries, but maybe it will go to provinces, regions, states, cities, etc. I don't know how far they can go with extensions, but it might just make the older, better known extensions more valuable. In ten years generic .coms and country code domains could therefore be extremely valuable, more than we can imagine today.

 

[carlton]

since tvs came out you've always needed a channel number.

since phones came out you've always needed a phone number.

since radio was invented you always need a station number.

street addresses the same, you need a house number or PO box.

with the internet, each site has an IP number, but it's too long to remember each IP number for every site you visit, so we use domain names to point to the IP number.

Right. Unless something comes along to supplant human language (sarcasm intended), a naming system of some type will be necessary. The domain name system functions like street addresses. Without it, you could not reliably find anything.

 

[nametrader]

Domains will never die, they will be there as long as internet exists. IDN market will only flourish in countries where local language is dominant.
Along with .com other TLD's and ccTLD's co exist and continue to grow in value. The game will be all about buying/Holding until the right price is offered.
Even reseller prices go up along with end user prices we are already seeing the trend.

Other things that influence the growth of internet and need for domains along with information, entertainment and social networking is ecommerce, I see no end to this baby because of the time, costs and risks involved in traveling around a city or town makes more and more people to buy online, It will be like work and home scenario buy everything else online except times when one desire to have fun stepping outside. In normal situations traffic jams, pollution etc deter more and more people to stay home or at work.

My 2 cents

 

[sashas]

I can see more extensions cropping up, like we have now for countries, but maybe it will go to provinces, regions, states, cities, etc. I don't know how far they can go with extensions, but it might just make the older, better known extensions more valuable. In ten years generic .coms and country code domains could therefore be extremely valuable, more than we can imagine today.

Could it work the opposite way? That older extensions become obsolete BECAUSE they become so valuable and they get reduced to collector items only (like vintage cars)?

 

[zorag]

Makes me think I should invest in a real good museum related dot com and sit on it for a while - DotComMuseum.com

 

[nametrader]

Nothing will ever be obsolete you know even the vintage cars have market. It will just be a bigger game with domains too. Dot Com or some other extension will and can never get saturated in my view. I see some Dot Com's selling for less than reg fee even today and I do not expect this to be changed any time soon. There is always Fine, Premium and Regular....