China sees rise in trademark, domain name speculations

There have been several high profile trademark disputes in China recently - over the use of famous names like iPad, Michael Jordan and Jeremy Lin.

It also reveals an increasing trend in speculative investments - on trademarks.



Apple's dispute over the use of the iPad name in China has started a speculative wave of trademark registrations.

The website of China's Industry and Commerce Department shows the names aPad, bPad, all the way to zPad, registered as trademarks.

And even though the social networking site Facebook is blocked in China, the Chinese are still betting on the potential value of the brand.

Speculators try to make a quick buck by being among the first to register a famous logo, or something that looks similar to it... then, sell it later at a much higher price.

Last year, one businessman registered the name, Jeremy Lin Shu Hao, for under US$900.
Now, the name of the up and coming NBA star is worth US$16 million, according to Forbes magazine.
Internet domain names such as linshuhao.com are already taken.

And there's notice on the webpage claiming the domain name is for sale.
Experts say speculation on trademark and domain names is increasing.

Wang Jun, Researcher at Fudan University Centre for Intellectual Property Study, said: "In the course of economic transformation, the people are more focused on economic success. The mentality is to take a short cut. He will usually neglect the legitimacy of the process to go after quick profits."

And taking such short cuts can lead to trouble.

American basketball star Michael Jordon has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese company, saying it was not authorised to use his Chinese name on their sports apparel. Some register trademarks to ride on the popularity of existing names.

A Chinese businessman filed an application to call the torchlights he manufactures iPhone. He argues that out of the 45 categories in China, Apple only registered the iPhone trademark in some 20 categories, which do not include lighting equipment. The dispute is still ongoing but there is a possibility that iPhone-brand torchlights, shampoos, furniture and even coffee and tea may be marketed in China.

Apple is able to take legal action, because the iPhone name is a well-known trademark.

Wang Jun added: "Special protection for well-known trademarks is a global practice. Apple enjoys a high reputation in China. If it causes a confusion amongst consumers, causing a damage in their reputation, the company can raise opposition."

Experts advise against speculating on trademarks. They say too many people are playing the game and, at the end of the day, few will be able to sell at a higher price.
Source

.ME Begins 2012 with Wildly Successful Auction!

“The bar has been raised on dot-Me domain name values, especially the domains with verbs”

.ME domain names showed strong aftermarket selling power during the TLD’s first auction of 2012. Due to high bidder demand, the auction exceeded its projected end time by nearly three hours. More than 93 .ME domain names were sold during the auction, including Hotel.Me, which sold for $25,000, Life.Me at $17,450 and Forex.Me at $16,099 USD. The auction was held in partnership with Sedo, a domain name aftermarket service.

“We are very pleased with the results of this auction,” said Predrag Lesic, CEO of the .ME Registry. “Many dot-ME domain names saw high interest from bidders - it’s apparent that dot-ME domain names have become one of the top choices in domain aftermarket.”

.ME domain names have a history of success on the aftermarket, particularly those with SEO-friendly keywords. “The bar has been raised on dot-Me domain name values, especially the domains with verbs,” Domain pundit Michael Berkens wrote on TheDomains.com.

.ME domain names prove they are a strong alternative to .COM domains - not only through powerful auction results but also in domain name industry studies. Sedo.com’s 2011 Annual Domain Market Study shows that .ME domain name extensions are in the 10 most frequently sold TLDs.

.ME domain names are especially popular with startups. According to Thomas Park, the .ME ccTLD is in the top four TLDs of choice for startups, nearly exceeding .org in popularity.

“The dot-ME registry had a very successful 2011,” said Lesic. “Between our partnerships with Visa and Delicious, several successful auctions and the steady influx of domain registrants who have embraced the catchy domain name extension to create their online identities, the sky is the limit for dot-ME!”


Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

Cameroon ccTLD: .CM Domain Promo to launch in May

 .CM domain promos will launch in May this year. Domains will go at the low prices of £5($8) per year. It's not clear whether the promo will be for domain registrations in the second level or third level as the registry allows both flat and hierarchical domain registrations.

.CM ccTLD domains are some of the more popular ccTLD properties on the web valued by typosquatters due to their close similarity to .COM, the world's most valuable TLD. Many choose .CM domains with intention of typosquatting popular .com domains. In 2006, the .cm ccTLD registry deployed a wild card in a deal with legendary domain investor Kevin Ham that roped in millions for the investor. In recent years, there have been successful .CM domain auctions, the last one being held last year at Sedo that have roped in some good revenue.

.CM being an open registry, most domains are held by investors mostly based in the developed markets and the domain has been beyond the reach of ordinary Cameroonians due to the high costs of registrations. Cameroonians are normally given a chance to register at a lower cost than the $90-$100 paid by foreign registrants for registrations in the second level but there is still low uptake at the local level. Registrations in third level typically cost about $20.

More details on .CM promo coming soon!

Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

Phnum : Domains Registrar introduces Global Phone Number Registrations

Your Local Phone Number Worldwide
Domain Registrar Instra Corporation has introduced a service called Phnum that allows you to register phone numbers globally and then redirect them to a single number globally. Using the Phnum technology, the service can redirect phone calls from any of the globally registered phone numbers to a your Home, Office, Mobile / Cell or VoIP phone.

It is an interesting service and particularly useful for business with global operations which want to establish a "local presence" in various countries. Suppose you are based in Cape Town but with global clients, using Phnum's technology, you can register local phone numbers in any country thus giving you customers an impression of a local presence/contact details when they would like to get in touch with you. What's more, your customers or family will only pay local rates to call you from anywhere in the world. No additional equipment is required to start using PhNUM as the technology is device independent.

 This is interesting as it's an innovation that replicates the model of the domain name system that allows users to register almost any domain in the world(in theory) from just about anywhere. It's a mobile version of the DNS in my opinion and will contribute to making the world more connected and global players in business can once again appear more local. Learn more about Instra Corporation's revolutionary Phnum service

Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

Domain Pariah .CO.CC back to Google SERPs

5 months ago, Google deindexed the entire .co.cc namespace and all websites with the .co.cc were virtually invisible on Google; which means if you hosted your website or blog on a  .co.cc domain, chances were that 65% of web users would not find you. Of course this is a rough statistic based on Google's market share and does not factor in the fact that your traffic could also be social media driven.


.CO.CC was a freehost, meaning you could register .co.cc domains for free. It operated like Tokelau's .TK registry which is currently the third largest ccTLD namespace in the world but .co.cc allows a maximum of 2 domains for free and it costs $10 to register 100 domains. The .co.cc was deindexed after it was determined that there was a huge amount of spam blogs, "splogs", in the .co.cc namespace so Google decided to take a drastic action on the freehost and swept away some 11 million websites.

I'm not sure what steps .CO.CC took to be removed from the "axis of evil" but at least legitimate users of .co.cc can smile once again. But why should you use .co.cc for a serious blog or business anyway???


.cc is the ccTLD of Cocos Islands.



You can view .co.cc websites here


Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

Final Notice to Renew .Ly Libyan Domains

Registrants of .LY domains had a silver lining during the Libyan war. The .LY registry unilaterally extended the redemption period for .LY domains until the end of 2011, which meant that even domains that had expired early in the year were given an extended grace period until the end of 2011. Well, the end of 2011 is tomorrow! So better pay up and help Libya rebuild its registry and country :) Here is a release from Libyan Registrar Libyan Spider:


The .ly registry has informed us that all domains that have passed the redemption period and that have not been renewed by their .ly domain owners will become available to the public for registration.

As many of you already know, the redemption period was extended to allow for Libyan clients, who were disconnected from the internet during the war, enough time to renew their domains. The redemption period was extended to not only Libyan clients but also for international clients as well. Instead of the redemption period being 2 months, it was extended until the end of 2011.This extension was put into effect since June 2011.

Now that the end of 2011 is fast approaching, the .ly registry has let us know that beginning of 2012, all .ly domains that have not been renewed which have passed the redemption period will be available to the public for sale.

We strongly advise you to renew your domains, that have expired and passed the redemption period, before January 1, 2012 so as to not lose your domains to other buyers. We also strongly advise those who own 3 or less letter domains and that do not have a physical presence in Libya to renew your domains as once they become available you will not be able to buy them back if you do not have a physical presence (address) in Libya.

Libyan Spider will not be held responsible for any losses if a domain (3 letter or less) that has expired and passed redemption period becomes available and is no longer available for registration simply because the original owner does not have a physical presence in Libya. Libyan Spider will also not be held responsible for any losses should a .ly domain become available and registered to a new owner if the original owner failed to renew in time (including due to technical difficulties should the server fail, etc). This is why we are strongly advising you to renew your domains as soon as possible to avoid any problems or losses.

Please consider this notice as a final notice to renew your domains. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries or comments.

We appreciate your business and wish you all a happy new year. We look forward to serving you in 2012 and thank you for your patronage.
Sincerely,
Libyan Spider team


Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

The African Reseller Club: Domain Reselling still a hopeful venture on the continent

I'm always very wary of buying from Domain Resellers partly because I do my home work on the best pricing on the internet before committing my money to any purchase and I know where to get much better deals from some ICANN Accredited Registrars who not only offer domain names at very low prices but also offer first class customer service!

A key challenge in the growth and uptake of domain names in Africa is the lack of large registrars with the marketing power and incentive to attract a large number of users. The void has hence been filled by African Domain Resellers whose core businesses are not necessarily domain name services. This I think has hindered the adoption of domain names, the kinds of mass adoption that has led to the success of registrars in the West. In Africa, people are likely to buy a domain name only when they need to host content on them or for some kind of brochure websites. Domain investing as an industry on its own, separate from the larger web design/webhosting business has not taken root. Several factors account for this which makes Africa a not particularly fertile ground for domain investing.

Key amongst them is pricing, and then there is issue of the terms and condition of some of the ccTLDs which are very unfriendly to users. There is also the issue of access to broadband as the business requires lots of access to the internet to carry the adequate research and networking in order to succeed. You need good internet connection to register domains, participate in domain auctions, develop a large number of websites, network with your peers, do volumes of research in a short period of time and so forth. This is normally hindered especially in African countries where prices for broadband are still steep in spite of the much vaunted launch of the fibre optic cables.

Domain Resellers however play a crucial role in the internet ecosystem in taking domains to the local markets where the large registrars may not have the marketing power or the understanding of the prevailing cultures that would help them appeal to local tastes. It would be quite costly if huge registrars like say eNom or GoDaddy or ResellerClub had to establish shop in each of the 250+ countries of the world. Imagine GoDaddy establishing GoDaddy.co.ke GoDaddy.co.za GoDaddy.cn etc to take its domains to the storefronts of every country. It would be quite costly. So the DNS being an internet business, registrars simply rely on domain resellers worldwide.  Signing up to be a domain reseller takes just a few minutes and you have your own "registrar" business!

Many large registrars focus on building reseller networks since these are the conduits through which you can reach millions without spending a dime. In many cases, the resellers will do their own marketing in order to push domain sales and that means a multiplier effect on your products. It means that while the registrars are doing their own marketing, there is a network that’s reinforcing their existing marketing network.

Having this rich network of hardworking, knowledgeable and committed resellers is key in taking domains to the shop fronts of every African country. These resellers normally specialize on other businesses such as web design, graphics design, even offering cybercafés services but as resellers they are able to push domain registrations, sales of SSL Certificates, sale of hosting packages, email hosting and much more to their local and if they are ambitious enough global clientele. As they say, on the internet, nobody knows you are a dog.

Given the dearth of ICANN Accredited Registrars in Africa, there is a real opportunity for African resellers to build a solid business before consumers opt for cheaper options in the global marketplace. There is an African Domain Reseller that was recently accredited by ICANN and many of the ICANN Accredited Registrars that you see were once domain resellers.

As a reseller, learn to give users special services for example, free installation of Wordpress for every domain or hosting package bought; offer a few domain offers to consumers; be social media savvy and blog often and be helpful to technically challenged clients or potential clients; since you are small, this is an opportunity to personalize your services and build a much closer bond with your consumers.

You might not grow very rich as a reseller at first but with hard work and dedication to your clients you will win their trust in the local and the regional markets and inspire consumer confidence in your products and services. You can for example dominate Wordpress blogs hosting, Joomla hosting, Drupal hosting and custom design and help in taking your local market online.

Instead of waiting for the customers to come for domain and websites, domain resellers can buy and develop hundreds of their own domains which they can use as portfolios to boost customer confidence and later even resell at a higher value, after all, they are resellers! If you can resell SSL certificates, you can surely resell high value generic keyword websites tailored for the local market.

Resellers cannot rely on domain sales alone at this time, but more Africans are yet to get online and the future looks promising for those who will be willing to stick to the knitting and weather the storm.


Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

KENIC hits 20,000 .KE Domains!

Kenya's .KE domain namespace hit 20,000 on 27th December and has added another 71 domains in the last 3 days which means KENIC is steadily stumbling forward, adding new registrants. There is a lingering feeling in the Kenyan internet community that these numbers would be much higher if the domains were affordable. At a minimum of $27 for .co.ke domains (the crown jewel in the .ke namespace), it's still beyond the reach of many users.

The Kenyan namespace has been growing on an average of 700-900 domains per month this year, so if the growth rate is to remain constant, we can expect 30,000 domains in the .KE namespace by the end of 2012. Well that's quite optimistic :) but I hope KENIC will come with more marketing, promotions and price reductions in 2012 to boost uptake of the .KE domains. After all the new gTLDs are coming into the market and many Kenyans are also realizing that they can acquire gTLDs and other "repurposed" ccTLDs like .me at a relatively low cost.

So there's already stiff competition in the domain market and users have choices; what wins out is how the particular domain is marketed to get users know why it's is a differentiating factor. .KE, as the ccTLD for the country has value, but consumers need to be aware of what's in it for them. This kind of communication, together with merciful pricing I believe, will drive .KE registration much faster and even beat my very optimistic prediction above.

On other news, I met the first  Kenyan domainer last week and we had tons of discussions on the .KE domains; It was quite interesting and we learnt a lot from each other.  I hope I can meet more Kenyan domainers to share ideas and insights. If you are interested in organizing the first Kenyan domaining meetup, please hit me up and let's get this rolling! Otherwise, am wishing a happy and fruitful 2012 to everyone! Let it be a serious, profitable domaining year :)

Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

The biggest domain name sales in 2011

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Do we have true "International" Domain Registrars?

Do we have a true global registrar? From Webhosting.info stats, it seems most of the top 15 ICANN Accredited registrars are  only as big as their countries of origin and 80% of the domains under these registrars' management are owned by registrants from those registrars' countries of origin. Does that make sense? Ok, let me break it down to you.

The largest registrar in the world is GoDaddy with over 50 million domains; GoDaddy is an American company with HQs in Arizona , in the United States, and over 80% of domains at GoDaddy are owned by Americans;  the same trend obtains for the second largest domain registrar(eNom) and the third largest domain registrar, Tucows(based in Canada).

The fifth largest domain registrar, Schlund+Partner which owns the giant 1and1 Internet domain registrar has over 80% of its registrants from Germany, it's country of origin. MelbourneIT of Australia, the sixth largest ICANN Accredited Registrar has over 80% of domains owned by registrants from Australia; Same situation obtains from the Wild west Domains of the United States the 7th largest ICANN Accredited registrar.

Onamae.com of the Internet Conglomerate GMO Internet of Japan, has the overwhelmingly majority of domains owned by Japanese registrants. In fact all the top 15 registrars show the same trend perhaps with exception of the Reseller Club from the Directi Group of India, which has somehow relied on the global market for its growth and not just the Indian market.

Which brings me to my original question; do we have a true "international" domain registrar? All registrars seem to cater for a specific target local market and market their domains with culture of those local markets in mind thus alienating other global users in my opinion. Can registrars be "truly global" when all of them begin from somewhere, a small market, like a city or a country? It seems all the registrars eventually adopt and internalize the local cultures of their countries of origin and they keep these cultures with them even as they expand to new markets globally. So in my opinion, amongst the giant registrars, none of them has a true global outlook. A better way would be registrars to launch new operations in underserved regions with those regions' cultures in mind. For example, GoDaddy's image and culture might not appeal to a registrant in say Middle East, North Africa and or  East Africa so, for a registrar to appeal to a cross section of markets, it must learn to be a world wide local player, setting up nd marketing strategies  that appeal to local tastes and cultures.

But I see a situation where small registrars in emerging markets will follow the same trend; build a local loyal following in the local markets, get ICANN Accreditation and proceed to conquer global markets while maintaining the local accent. So the idea of an "International" domain registrar is not something that's very feasible :) but registrar must find ways of appealing to diverse markets by for example, establishing a local presence.


World's largest Domain Registrars

1. GoDaddy::US
2.  eNom::US
3. Tucows::Canada
4. Network Solutions::US
5. Schlund+Partner::Germany
6. MelbourneIT::Australia
7. WildWest Domains::US
8. ResellerClub.com::India
9. Register.com::US
10. Moniker::US
11. Key-Systems::Germany
12. FastDomain.com::US
13. Xinnet::China
14. Onamae.com::Japan
15. OVH::France

 Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

"Consultants" Top List of Business Types Now Taking to the Web

1&1 Internet, Inc.recently launched a campaign for 1and1 MyWebsite in the US, an easy online application that creates an attractive and highly tailored business website in minutes and thousands of businesses responded to launch websites with the domain registrar, many of them for the first time.

Surprisingly, the Top 10 sectors launching online is led by ‘Consulting Group.’ Consultants are followed by ‘Real Estate Agent or Broker,’ ‘Business Services’ and ‘Retailers.’ If you have been watching a lot of news lately, these are the sectors where there is a lot of activity in the US. Curiously, "Photographers" also made it to the top 10. Here are the top 10 sectors based on the 1and1 sample:

1) Consulting Groups,
2) Real Estate Agents and Brokers,
3) Business Services,
4) Retail Business,
5) Non-Profit Organizations,
6) Photographers,
7) IT Consultants,
8) Faith-based Organizations,
9) Health Services,
10) PR, Marketing and Communication Services.
 
Read more

Get a 1and1 MyWebsite, click the banner below:

Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

Adsense for Domains : "Tasting" can help you avoid disaster

Want to pack your domain with Google Adsense for Domains? Clearly outline your objectives before you embark on another uncertain venture.Are you packing because you have no idea what to do with it or because you want to seriously earn some cash from parking revenues?

If it's the latter, then I suggest you employ what I call "Adsense Domain Tasting" :park the domain and monitor it for 10 days for  traffic and clicks. A profitable domain must at least break even and help you pay renewal fees. If after 10 days you see zero traffic and zero clicks from your domains, then they are not worth parking. The tasting period must draw to an abrupt close and start thinking seriously of a sales or development strategy.Perhaps a minisite?

Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

Why 1&1 Offers the best Web Hosting Package

When it comes to web hosting, I rarely go along with Kenyan web hosts after a very nasty experience last year. I go International, after all, quality of service and how a service provider responds to my needs comes first to me before "patriotism".

Shopping for a web hosting partner is one of the toughest jobs for a web designer or internet entrepreneur. It's about balancing your costs and quality of service, you would like a webhost that meets your needs not just when it comes to bandwidth requirements but also the availability of unlimited addons and services bundled together with the hosting package. Plus top of the notch customer service. As late as 3 weeks ago, I was hosting my website with BlueHost.com until the offer expired recently. When I saw the cost of renewal, of both the domain and webhosting package, my mind was made up.

BlueHost Ridiculously Expensive!
Last year BlueHost was offering an all in one bundled webhosting package for about $6.95 per month($83 per year), something I thought was quite cheap since it gave me unlimited bandwidth, Simple Scripts and other applications and one-click installs, unlimited subdomains, free emails plus much more goodies there in the cPanel. I love a rich cPanel that allows me to extend my creativity and offer users top of the notch services via my websites. When my domain and hosting expired and BlueHost told me my renewal cost would be $8.95 per month plus $10 for domain(a total of $117), I realized I had seen enough. Since I had backed up my files, I decided to change web hosts instantly!

Hostgator and false promises

Hostgator is actually not cheap. For one year registration, the best you can get from Hostgator is $5.56 per month or $66.72 per year. The good thing is that this comes with lots of frills including one click installs, unlimited emails which is cool. But $66 is still quite costly especially if I can get webhosting in Kenya for $30.

GoDaddy does not get webhosting

GoDaddy is very good at selling domains at low cost but when it comes to Webhosting, GoDaddy just does't get it. Apart from the cost, GoDaddy's charges you per email hosted! Your costs will run into over $100 if you host your website plus at least 5 other emails. Too costly for a small organization!

1&1 Internet Gets Webhosting!

1&1 currently offers a $41 per year webhosting package accompanied by a free domain name, 500 free email accounts, unlimited access to over 65 Click and Build Applications(1000s of Joomla, Wordpress templates and galleries), free mobile website editing software plus more all for just $41 per year! This is true value. I also forgot to add the intuitive and user friendly website and ecommerce interface! (One drawback is that it takes hours for the order to be processed). In the end no one is perfect but 1&1 offers something fresh, rich and affordable. Click the banner below to access best web offers on 1&1:

Work can be republished with attribution. Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

What is the Swahili word for "domain names" ?

Swahili has proved to be a very dynamic language changing with the times. Of course Swahili, like many of the other global languages, preceded the modern technological revolution. Just as languages like English, French, German etc have had to evolve to accommodate the emergence of new devices, so has our very own Swahili.

When I was in primary school a little more than 10 years ago, computers were called "kompyuta" in Swahili. By the time I was in high school, the Swahili scholars had already coined a name for computers: "tarakilishi" which simply means compute(r) in English.

What is the name of the "internet" in Swahili for example? What about "broadband"? And finally, I need to know the translation of "domains" or "domain names" in Swahili. More and more non English speaking East Africans will get online soon and need websites and domains. The Swahili scholars must start moving at the speed of broadband and coin a few more words to describe our new online experience otherwise many ideas might be "lost in translation" in the near future.

Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

Domain Name Investments: Why .COM is not KING

.COM is not King after all. Read this article republished from Australia's domain marketplace website netfleet : Why .com is not King :


There’s a common misconception among domainers that the best investment in domains is .com. This is patently not true – in fact .com domains have been a terrible investment over the last few years and prospects continue to look dire. The myth that investing in. com domains is the best choice and that anything else is a compromise has been fueled by the following misconceptions:

1)      .com domains command the highest prices so therefore are where the money is.
Whilst this is true, and will no doubt continue to be so, from an investment point of view this isn’t relevant.  Successful investors look for growth opportunities, not solely for high values – no one would claim that investing in platinum over the last few years just has to be better than investing in oil because pound for pound it’s so much more expensive – the same is true of segments of the domain market.

2)      All the really successful domainers seem to have made their millions in .com domains so that’s what I want to do
Again true, the guys in the industry who have really made it big, tend to have done so through .com investment.  But the key thing is most of them started over 10 years ago.  .com domain values did appreciate hugely between 2000 and 2007 and many people made a lot of money.  However that ship has sailed.  .com values have plateaued or even fallen since then whilst other name spaces have taken over the growth reigns.

3)      .com domains have a 6 billion person audience whilst ccTLDs are limited
The size of a market does not necessarily impact values or growth.  Whilst a bigger market will normally mean more liquidity, values in domains are driven by supply and demand.  If that balance of supply and demand doesn’t change, nor can you expect domain value too.  This is the same argument for saying one should invest in rice simply because it has a larger market than gold for example.

4)      Most domainers invest in .com – surely this says something about the namespace
Unfortunately just because everybody else is doing it, doesn’t mean it’s the best idea.  On the contrary, your competition is that much harder as to make a profit trading you basically have to beat the experts at their own game if you want to sell back into the domainer market.  Unfortunately the ‘com is king’ sheep mentality is kept alive by the many people who are heavily invested in the area and need to talk it up at all costs.

5)      .com domains rank the best in search engine results pages
Actually the opposite is true… in most countries a Google search will be dominated by results using domains in their respective ccTLD – .com domains often don’t get a look in.  Google’s goal is to return relevant results so it makes sense for them to return a .fr result for searchers in France, a co.uk result for the UK etc etc.  The exception (and also why this myth is perpetuated) is in the U.S where for various reasons the local ccTLD (.us) has not taken off – therefore .com is considered the default ccTLD and does indeed dominate results.
The facts are that .com values have fallen since about 2007-2008.  DnJournal, Sedo all concur.  We’ve had LLLL.com buyouts leading to a bubble which has since burst.  Clearance rates have bombed at auctions.  The vast majority of domainers who have started in domaining in the last few years by investing in .com domains have disappeared.

The main problem being there are less and less end users buying .com domains and new domainer entrants cannot prop up the .com market indefinitely.  If you think about it, the vast majority of businesses, looking for a website will be locally based.  They trade exclusively within their own country and have no interest in expanding on a global scale (I’m talking about the backbone of our economies here – the builders, carpet cleaners, cafes etc).  What happens when they decide it’s time to get a website together – if (and they may well not) they consider .com they will struggle to find anything remotely acceptable to hand register and a quick look on the aftermarket will be met with sky-high prices.  But if they look at their local ccTLD there will be many times the amount of available domains to register and purchasing a premium domain is a fraction of the cost of the equivalent .com.  So it’s an obvious choice.  As more and more of these end-users (which outnumber domainers 10,000 to 1) put their money into ccTLDs, .com will struggle to keep momentum even with the steady general growth of the internet.

Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

Wordpress Adds .me domains: "New Domains for You and .me"

Wordpress has added .me domains. Continue reading below:

Post Courtesy Wordpress
New Domains for You and .me
Today we are adding .me (to .com, .org and .net) as a new option for upgrading to your own, custom domain name on WordPress.com. All of our domain mapping options cost just a couple dollars per month for your domain name and hosting. You don’t have to deal with web servers or configuration, we take care of everything for you.

As Sara mentioned a couple months ago, one of the most common questions we get is whether you can use your own domain for WordPress.com blogs. Incidentally, Add a Domain is our most popular upgrade, so we know you love customizing your digital address and we are always looking for ways to make it better and easier.

Rather than adding numbers or dropping vowels for a .com you don’t really want, check out .me and find the perfect fit for your business, your name, or just a pun you can’t stop laughing at. We’ve seen lots of creative domain-names-as-sentences using .me, like about.me and connect.me. And we love our wp.me URL shortener, available to all WordPress.com users.

How to get a .me domain
If you want to upgrade to a .me domain for a new WordPress.com site, head over to wordpress.com/signup. If you want to add a .me domain to an existing WordPress.com site, you can follow our step-by-step instructions. It’s only $2/month, so what are you waiting for?!
Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

dotZulu: Will the Zulu Nation have a new Top Level Domain Name?

dotZulu is one of the newTLD initiatives to have emerged in the last year or so but is also one of the most dormant newTLD initiatives. The initiative to establish dotZULU is led by Top Level Domain Holdings'(TLDH) Minds and Machines subsidiary. In fact, the dotzulu initiatives' domain http://www.zulutld.com/ is registered to Fred Krueger, Angel investor and the Chairman of TLDH and Clark Landry, an Angel Investor and also co-founder at TLDH.

 The dotzulu campaign started on a high note last year when they received an endorsement from the Zulu Monarch King Zwelithini Goodwill kaBhekuzulu in which he made  a plea to ICANN to delegate .zulu to his people:

"I am hoping that ICANN will ensure that the Zulu nation will always have a distinct home on the internet. The dotZULU top level domain will help to secure our heritage and empower our great progress forward. This a chance to create a driven community. One that reflects the rich enduring spirit of the Zulu nation and will nurture new ideas, new solution and new hope. It will help us come together look ahead and share our world with the larger world. So as the King of the Zulu nation, I request that you grant this opportunity to me and my people so that we may hold fast to our identity as we swiftly and surely advance towards a bright future."

Since then, the dotzulu campaign has been shtum about the progress of the initiative. We do not know whether they are doing an outreach to the Zulu nation, in its Kwa Zulu Natal heartland and the rest of South Africa to adopt the dotzulu newTLD the same way other newTLD initiatives such as the dotAfrica campaign by DotConnectAfrica, the dotgreen campaign, the dotberlin campaign by dotBerlin GmbH & Co. KG, the dotnyc by DotNYC LLC, dotirish by DotIrish LLC have been busy doing outreach to their respective communities.

Which brings to the fore the question: is the initiative dead? The website has never been constructed(Coming Soon for the last one year!!) to communicate the mission and vision of the organization and initiative to the Zulu people; there is no social media presence or any Press releases. This perhaps was an initiative that was ahead of its time. Also, did TLDH approach the Zulu nation on possibility of collaboration in launching the newTLD or did the Zulu nation approach TLDH to help it secure .zulu? I do not want to speculate but either way something must have gone sour and the Zulus will ot be seeing a newTLD soon.

There are between 10-11 million Zulus spread across South Africa and the Southern African countries and they are as proud as the morning about their culture and history, having had the most powerful state and military organization in the 19th Century Africa. President Zuma is also a Zulu. A well marketed dotzulu will certainly resonate with many Zulus but is there market for domains amongst the Zulus? How many Zulus have access to the internet and broadband services? I was thinking that may be the Provincial authorities in Kwa Zulu Natal should have been more interested in launching a Zulu TLD to market the province they are so proud of to Africa and the rest of the world.

I like the idea of the community(ethnic) and city new gTLDs such as .zulu across Africa but launching ICANN's newTLDs costs a fortune at $185,000. If the cost can be reduced to $47,000 for developing countries perhaps initiatives like .zulu .ibo and even .cape .nairobi will become certain reality.  A friend has however told me that instead of repartitioning Africa for the second time, we can just have a Pan-African newTLD:dotafrica.

 

Email Us africadomainnames@gmail.com

Libya's .Ly Domains hit the 10,000 registrations mark

Libya's .Ly Domains are some of the most popular domain names on the web, at least amongst "domain hackers", domain hacks are domain names for which the name plus the extension can be read as a whole word or a sentence. Example is successful.ly tru.ly plus more.

The Libyan .Ly domains is perhaps most recognizable in Twitter's URL shortener bit.ly and other popular social media websites. According to the latest registration numbers, the number of .ly domains is now at around 10074 names. Contrary to what's often reported, many of the .ly domains have not been affected by the war since the .ly rootservers have been distributed across three continents but renewing domain names might be an issue since domains can only be bought via Libya Telecom and Technologies.I will have to confirm with Libyan Spider President Hadi Naser and update accordingly.