One of the threats to ICANN for non-action is the possibility of a few other TLD's
gaining substantial popularity. I made this point before ( and I know many techie's
technical knowledge obscure their ability to assess new TLD's) .. but what is happening
right now to .TV is VERY significant. Regardless of their draconian registration
agreement and its implications for the "good" of the Internet,people are buying LOTS
and LOTS of .TV domains for LOTS of money. This did NOT happen (with this ferocity)to
.NU, or .WS, or .CC etc, etc. .TV is NOT just another ccTLD even if it technically
is. While it may not be applicable for every company, it is pretty appropriate
for the Broadband/Streaming Media Internet we are moving towards..TV's apparent
enthusiastic market acceptance combined with the fact there are actually FEW TLD's
that ICANN can roll out that will have appeal, puts them in a position where they
can easily come out of this process with a totally ineffective solution.
Probably
the most prevalent and erroneous belief on this thread, in my view, is that the business
markets will just jump all over WHATEVER ICANN comes out with.
I just don't buy
this. As I mentioned a long time ago, names are simply marketing vehicles.
THEY ARE. The rule of thumb for any TLD is " Will a company want that address
on it's Business Cards, Trucks, Billboards, and TV advertisments. Is it memorable?
Catchy? Intuitive?
If not, forget it. Speculators may buy them up, but ultimately
companies will NOT use them/put the TLD up on their sites.
Sorry folks. The Internet
cannot be categorized effectively through DNS for many reasons including the simple
one above. Companies simply want good names.
The only categorized TLD's
I that may have substantial value are .per and .reg, since they would have broad
applicability. Although, .reg is not that appealing from the marketing standpoint.
If
.WEB or .BIZ, dont' come out expect .TV to overshadow many of the new TLD's.
.SHOP, FYI, is not that great of a TLD. One reason is that URL's are commonly
viewed as addresses or locations. Is it therefore difficult NOT to think of
.SHOP as a noun instead of a verb, it's apparent true intent. And the problem here
is NOT many businesses want to be a SHOP, which implies a SMALL, retail type store.
Again, this is a marketing perspective that is more pertinent to this argument than
many believe.
Jestiny