Looking at the calendar today, June 1st, I realized there hasn’t been an editorial for a long, long time.
Therefore, I seize this opportunity to commit to a monthly post, addressing the domain industry and its direction.
Tomorrow marks the 2nd anniversary of .XYZ, and the controversy surrounding its launch is more or less known, to the point of it becoming non-news among domainers.
As a memory refresher, watch the video that features Rick Schwartz and the original Sherpas.
On a related note, last week marked the launch of .Game, a top tier gTLD in my opinion, from the Uniregistry stable of domain assets.
Why are .XYZ and .Game related?
Frank Schilling and Daniel Negari are both well-known professionals in the domain industry, albeit for different reasons.
Negari rose to fame through his .XYZ launch and promotion, and subsequent obsession with achieving numbers and milestones of .XYZ registrations. He clearly is a savvy entrepreneur that could care less about any negative noise, or even the Verisign debacle that – for the most part – ended well for his company.
Schilling is without a doubt a legend among domainers, and an ever-busy brain, testing things constantly to fine-tune performance. His iconic presence has evolved into a pitcher of opportunities available in associate gTLDs, such as .XYZ.
On one hand, we have Frank Schilling’s .Game launch, priced at $318.88 minimum via Uniregistry.
On the other hand, we have Daniel Negari’s 2nd anniversary promo of .XYZ priced at $0.01 dollars per registration.
Two opposite extremes, that are related to each other, for the reason that domainers are still left confused about how either one will benefit them in the long term.
It is obvious to me, that neither entrepreneur would want to be questioned, or criticized about their business decisions.
After all, private enterprises often rely on their founder’s personality to thrive. As long as Daniel and Frank continue this 1-2 of popularity punches, they should be fine.
Domain investors, however, would like to know whether a cheap .XYZ domain or a high priced .Game would deliver them to financial and business success.
Both pricing models are extreme, in my opinion, and fail to take into account the logistics and finances of the industry’s core support, its investors.
The success of .com was in the authority it presented from the get-go, even when prices were $100 dollars per two years of registration.
Domain names for the masses arrived through the understanding that the original triad of available TLDs – com, net and org – were a manifestation of online success through actual business validation, not through promotional devaluation.
As far as target audiences go, .Game is clearly aimed at game companies, period.
It could have been a broader gTLD, with registration fees not exceeding the price of a new game, and still too expensive for gamers, enthusiasts and investors. At $318.88 a pop or higher, it represents one side of the extreme.
Dot .XYZ, represents its founder’s vision to spread the love and respect that .com took years to achieve. Generation XYZ is a great, invented motto.
It’s a dreamer’s manifestation, and once brought down to the extreme pricing of 1 cent, it’ll be hard to raise back up to dreamland status.
Over and out.
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