Frank Schilling, founder of Uniregistry, has a strong followship of domain investors and entrepreneurs.
Frank Schilling – founder of Uniregistry.
Known for his typically low tone approach to domain investing and gTLDs, Frank has been increasingly vocal about the future of brands and gTLDs, in recent days.
Going even further, Frank made a bold prediction about what 2015, that is, next year, is about to bring:
“2015: .info shrinks, com flatlines, some NewG accidentally GA’s a name they need + barters premium to get it back. Biz gets beat by a New G.”
That is a clear reference to the ever-increasing importance of brands, and an anticipation of the gTLD namespace coming through as a strong contender to the existing top level domains.
Way to go, Frank! 😀
This post is 100% true!
The point is valid, but there are many scenarios still in play, if my business is called AB Gallery, and I own ABGallery.com, and AB.Gallery is blocked for registration, I carry upon my business with the .com.
If I am opening a new business that is called Food Ventures, and Food.Ventures is taken, and FoodVentures.com as well, both by developed end users, what options do I have? .net?
For the life of me I can’t figure out what is going on with WearableTechnology.com, but the .technology gtld has been forwarded to the .com homepage. It could have easily been setup to land on it’s own page. Are companies buying vanity, or are they buying a doormat to their company?
I feel there is still a strong demand for the .com, sure many good names are taken. There is a bit of a blind trust in the new GTLD’s at this point, it is still shaky ground, but I think predictions are just that at this point. I do not agree with premium pricing on domains. If I am a small business, and I have to pay $300 a year to renew my name, over a $8 .com, I might just side with a .com, from a newbies POV.
I guess from the end users perspective, if it isn’t broke, why try to fix it?
Tom – All great points, thank you for sharing.
I think that with his predictions, Frank is focusing on the rate of growth, awareness and real world use for gTLDs, as opposed to media obscurity about them. But it will be a long battle, or a marathon race, to achieve anything that .com achieved in 20 years of existence.