Rolf Larsen, .Global CEO.
Rolf Larsen, founder and CEO of dot .Global, took to LinkedIn to share his thoughts on the fallout from a recent decision by Uniregistry to raise prices for 16 of its gTLDs.
Despite titling his op-piece as “Domain Name Drama,” Larsen takes a balanced approach to analyzing the events:
“I think the frustration and criticism is partially justified. I believe that the negative effects that the price increase may have on existing customers needs to be limited to as large a degree as possible. Predictability and stability is of the utmost importance in the internet infrastructure industry, especially at this time. Therefore, drastic price changes should be avoided and impacts mitigated as much as possible.”
Larsen addresses the unwarranted criticism that the new gTLDs received on the occasion, attributing it to the usual suspects, and not actual users of such brands:
“Critics to the new domain extensions are now crawling out of the woodwork to doom the new extensions as dead or soon to be.
I believe the criticism is deserved for one registry failing in providing the expected stability when it comes to pricing. The impact of Uniregistry´s price hike is quite limited for our market, where almost all domain extensions have held stable price models. The new domain extensions are here to stay and are being used by both large and small brands.
I haven’t heard of customers being unhappy about their choice to be modern and innovative when branding themselves on the new domain extensions. On the contrary, owners that went live with new domain extensions have had much positive feedback when asked. “
Regarding the future expansion of the new gTLD program that is now three years old, the .Global CEO states:
“Furthermore, as a brand grows and domain portfolio building becomes increasingly important both for intellectual property protective purposes and to enable expansion, domains on many different extensions are both needed and wanted. A well-rounded domain name portfolio allows the brand to direct Internet users to certain desired content, whether it be country or service/product specific. New domain extensions can thereby serve both as great additions to, or often alternatives to, traditional .com domain names. “
Rolf Larsen wraps it up with a message to the domain community, with the suggestion to “drop the drama” and focus on constructive things:
“If you read this, you are most likely in the domain industry. I sincerely hope that we can drop the drama and exaggerations when we criticise, and focus on good arguments and support instead.”
For the full article by Rolf Larsen, click here.
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Don’t think many domain investors have a real problem with introduction of new Gs.
Think things became unhinged cuz No 1 evangelist for new Gs, who predicted .com would be forced to join “AM radio” doom, massacred the business model that he vehemently preached would usurp .com.
Credibility to industry overall was hurt, and credibility to new Gs was hurt significantly worse. Perhaps the only winner are top tier .coms but I’m biased.
Uniregistry is a business and can do however they please. They are pivoting to end user and higher prices. Probably could have been done in a more gradual manner but the owner also has 150K .coms. Perhaps was trying to influence the value of his hedge.
Investors in general need to learn to not be so emotional, and learn over time where to invest your money. Need to do your due diligence to avoid major pitfalls in any industry.
These are for profit companies that at the end of the day will choose pivot and survival over death. It’s just some people were overly optimistic and this optimism translated into a lot of casualties.
I agree with everything Rolf just stated. A reasonable point of view start to finish.
OH, Please! Rolf and his fancy c-level title haven’t imparted any wisdom (much less, strategic intel) that the rest of us don’t already know anyway. Frankly, most of his commentary is just more of the same propagandistic evangelism we are all so accustomed to hearing from new gTLD peddlers.
Speaking of a “reasonable point of view start to finish”, have a re-read of R P’s commentary above …talk about independently verifiable, transparently factual, and dead-on accurate! Thanks R P for succinctly nailing it!
Pricing is too high for most new gTLD’s and they should only be used in addition to a .com domain name, not as an alternative. IMO
It’s because the average person only trusts .com .net .org, .info, their own ccTLD or other ccTLD’s like .co and .tv.