Most of our stories about the new gTLD’s are negative, as we think the releasing of hundreds or thousands of extensions are trouble for the net.
However, there are definitely some of the new proposed extensions for which there is a lot of interest.
For the proposed .nyc extension there appears to be lots of competition, with at least 6 groups going after the extension.
The groups range from a real grass roots group called: connectingnyc.org run by Tom Lowenhaupt, which he says he formed in 2006, to major well know registrars.
Connecting.nyc says they would screen applicants seeking to purchase neighborhood domain names. A portion of all domain sales would go to the city.
Another group competing for the same space is dotNYC which claims it has been trying since 2000 to gain a .nyc for the city.
“DotNYC has the ICANN-required experience, the ICANN-required funding and the ICANN-required technical skills. The other groups making noises about .nyc have none of those, and everyone involved knows that,” said Davidson Goldin, an adviser to dotNYC.
DotNYC is headed by Antony Van Couvering, a New York City resident, who founded NameEngine in 1999 and sold it to VeriSign in 2001. He then founded NetNames USA in 1997. He also claims to have started and managed several top-level country code domains, including .TM (Turkmenistan), .AS (American Samoa), .BT (Bhutan), and .PW (Palau), he also claims that his business partner happens to be one of the founders of ICANN.
DotNYC would make .nyc Web addresses available to any business or individual with a legitimate association with New York City, said Mr. Van Couvering. City government agencies would get their domain names for free. The company would maintain a Manhattan headquarters and take charge of marketing the .nyc domain, as well as developing policies to protect trademarks and ensure .nyc Web addresses were used responsibly. It would give one-third of all domain-sale profits to a city-chosen “Community Partner.”
Mr. Van Couvering said the domain names would be particularly useful for infrastructure, tourism and entertainment.
Aside from Connecting.nyc and dotNYC, other applicants include: neuStar Registry Services (which runs the .biz registry) , Name.Space, VeriSign and INDOM (the French registrar also going after the .paris extension).
For the city’s part, they have not committed to even pursuing .nyc or if so which of the completing groups it will support.
According the the Guidebook of for the new gTLD’s community support is going to be the key to winning a bid.
If one of the groups gets the support of the city, it will be game over.
If the city does not get behind one of the groups then the six groups will be in a race to get support of other community organizations.
Rob Sequin says
Good article.
Sounds like somebody will be suing ICANN and/or the winner of the .nyc extension.
Fun times ahead.
David J Castello says
When to it comes to the winner of dotNYC I have one only thing to say: Be careful what you wish for. What happens when five NYC lawyers want Lawyer.NYC and you’ve already assigned it to a legal firm in Manhattan? Don’t think that’s a definite scenario? I remember when a lawyer in Manhattan sued Studio 54 for not letting him in.
Truly fun times ahead.
MHB says
David
Hey I want lawyers.nyc also, don’t cut me out of the action.
They might have to settle for nyc.law or ny.law.
David J Castello says
Mike:
The point I’m trying to make is that, for the first time, the TLD administrator is going to be held directly responsible for assigning domain names. Should make for some very interesting legal scenarios and these TLD administrators may end up shouldering a burden I wouldn’t wish on anyone. One thing about lawyers – I’ve never faulted them for a lack of creativity.
gfy says
Why is this idiot allowed to spam the blog. GFY
bob kiely says
Just curious if there’s much value to NYC as a prefix?
Gazzip says
Is’nt ICONN counting on having loads of legal problems, How much are they going to charge per hour for disputes ?
….was’nt it somewhere in the thousands of dollar range ?
(I can’t remember the exact figure but it was shocking)
RH says
Is an interesting extension proposal. Michael, and looks like William is back under a different name with the same spam.
SDM says
.LA Opportunity?
I have long said that .NYC will create instant recognition for .LA.
Say what you will, but for every .NYC premium keyword domain that will be a beneficiary of direct navigation traffic, there will be a .LA domain counterpart that will also benefit.
What surprises me the most is that several of my .LA domains already attract an unexpected level of direct navigation traffic. With a never ending coast-to-coast rivalry between these two major cities, I’m convinced .LA traffic will increase significantly when .NYC comes to fruition.
As for those who would respond by saying that .LA is a ccTLD for Laos and has no connection to Los Angeles, I would encourage you to check the origins of .TV or .Me as well as check the the way .LA is currently positioning itself from a marketing perspective:
http://www.la/
For those who still don’t see the potential, I’d suggest a quick read of Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point.”
MHB says
SDM
The basic failure of the .LA extension to be used by Los Angles based companies, it the reason that you are probably wrong.
The .nyc will be a NY based application from the get go, which they will award the most sought after names to business that operate in NY rather than domainers or others.
Because of the roll out in that fashion people in NY will possible get to start using .nyc to develop websites and consumers will over time, get to understand that if they are looking for a local business they can type in the .nyc extension.
.LA is never going to be in that same class, and of course its already a country code, having nothing to do with Los Angles
RH says
Michael you make a good point, and I did not think about the .la but it does seem like it might get some increase traffic, don’t you think. Secondly do you think the .nyc will be a success ?
MHB says
RH
I guess that is how you would define success.
I think it has a chance to succeed if they keep it quite community based.
Its going to be a lot of work to make sure the best domains stay in local hands and as David pointed out, when it comes to assigning a name like lawyer.nyc who is going to get it and how will it be assigned.
If I was running the registry, I would make all interested parties submit paperwork demonstrating they were a lawyer or law firm admitted to the NY bar with offices in NY for at least 1 year prior to application.
I would then hold and auction opened to just the qualified bidders.
You take 1,000 different professions, businesses etc. and do the same and if those who won the right to use the .nyc actually create sites, and market them, then I think it would be successful.
SDM says
“.LA is never going to be in that same class, and of course its already a country code, having nothing to do with Los Angles.”
MHB,
That’s exactly why I mentioned .Me & .TV. Both country codes as well. It’s all about the marketing. Dot-ME has done a nice job making us think about ourselves and not Montenegro. My point was that the success of .nyc will bring recognition from the LA population for no other reason than Los Angelinos wondering whether a premium keyword followed by .la will reveal a locally based website.
That’s why I have focused on domains such as these with a Geo based local flavor:
Dentists.LA
AirportShuttle.LA
Copies.LA
Tattoos.LA
The fact that several of these .LA domains are already on course to pay their own $40 hefty registration fees with only a minisite and Adsense is very promising. Not to mention the occasional email request I receive for brochure or printing services at Copies.la. There’s much more monetizing to be done before I am anywhere near the point of diminishing returns.
Many of the best premium keyword .com domains still having nothing but parked pages doesn’t dissuade the general population from continuing direct navigation searches through the URL address bar. My point is simply that the success of .nyc will only increase public awareness that a Los Angeles based website might just be hiding behind a domain ending in .la.
It’s not about domaining or domainers – just human nature.
What’s more, IMHO, perception changes when you can visually “get” the feel of a website by actually seeing it as opposed to owning a domain that appears nowhere else – except on a list with hundreds of similarly orphaned keywords followed by a TLD.
Plus, you have to admit (at least a little) that AirportShuttles.LA* looks pretty darn cool!
*(Props to Estibot for the minisite & design)
SDM says
Oops! Make that “AirportShuttle.la” in the last line. Sorry.
MHB says
SDM
.me is another extension that was marketed correctly from the get go.
It’s very hard to establish a brand when it was not done properly at the launch.
Look at .travel, would be one of the most sort after gTLD’s, except its already out there, screwed from the start and a failure 3 years latter.
SDM says
Bottom line: All I’m saying is if my .la domains are getting traffic and PPC revenue now, the success of .nyc ain’t gonna hurt!
I understand being skeptical. I don’t understand the reluctance to apply logic to a given set of circumstances and arrive at a reasonable conclusion.
Here’s another example of what I mean:
I can’t tell you the number of domainers who continue to tell me that longtail .com keywords will never get the kind of search placement I describe – notwithstanding the fact that I can show half a dozen examples where minisites (i.e., PayLaterCatalogs.com) went from nowhere to Google Top 10 search result placement in about 60 days. Arghhh!
RH says
I see where you are coming from, if people understand and know about .nyc it is logical to live in LA and think, “There is a .nyc I guess there is a .la too” and then type in dentists.la or theaters.la or banquethalls.la It makes sense IMO if .NYC gets press its natural that Los Angeles will say what about us ?
SDM says
RH,
Thanks. That’s all I’m saying.
SDM says
One last note about .la:
While the more remote ccTLD owners, across the board, have been dropping many of the top 500 premium keyword domains at an unprecedented rate, .la owners are not. Other than a few Geos for country/state names which make very little sense for .la, I’ve seen nothing else available for months. And even those .la Geos get snapped right up.
(Except for TalkRadio.LA, which I inadvertently dropped, much to my regret.)
MHB says
UPDATE
Former Mayor Ed Koch backs DotNYC group:
http://www.circleid.com/posts/former_new_york_city_mayor_support_for_dotnyc/