Quick Poll: What Was The Biggest Story Out Of The Domain World In 2010?
With 2010 quickly coming to a close, its time for our year end poll on what you thought the biggest story coming out of the domain industry in 2010.
When choosing the stories for you to vote on I particularly looked for stories that made a lot of press outside the domain industry as well.
Here are the topics I put into the poll for your votes:
.Co.
The .Co launch got a ton of attention in the domain world in 2010 and rightly so.
The extension has already racked up over 600,000 registrations, with 500,000 coming in the first 2 months; Overstock paid $350K for O.co which they now will appear to use for all of its non-us sites in the future, held land rush auctions generating millions of dollars, Twitter and Godaddy picked .Co single letter domains as their official shortners, Godaddy replaced them for a day as the default extension for all new registrations, .CO announced they will be part of a Super Bowl ad scheduled next year and the auction for i.Co is set for February 2011.
Domain Name Seizures.
Not only the domain world but the online world took notice of the Feds seizing what totaled over 80 domain names by Homeland Security for violation of US laws by going directly to the registry without notice to the registrants or even the registrars. Congress attempted to pass a bill that would have allowed even more domain seizures but the bill looks like its dead for 2010.
By the way, 2 years later the Kentucky domain name seizure is still kicking around in the courts with hearing as recent as this month.
Sex.com Sells for $13 Million
Few thought the domain name Sex.com would sell for as much as it did back in 2006, including myself but wound up setting a record again in a all cash, pure domain sale it sold for $13 Million dollars. We also found out that the exact sales price back in 2006 for $11.5 Million showing you can still go bankrupt but make money at least on paper.
Xbiz.com has already listed this sale on its list of the top Adult industry News makers of 2010 list
Insurance Domains
It certainly was a great year for those holding insurance related domains.
Publicly traded, Quin Street bought the trifecta of insurance domains this year, when they acquired CarInsurance.com for $49.5 Million (thanks Sean), Insurance.com for $36.5 Million just months after it bought Insure.com for $16 million (that purchase actually happened in last 2009) and their shares after starting to trade at $15, went as low as $11 and yesterday was above $20.
HomeOwnersInsurance.com sold for $570K
There is also a rumor floating around of a insurance .net domain that sold for $1 Million but is under an NDA,
Even in the Uk there was a multimillion dollar sale involving some great insurance domains.
Quotes.com sold for over $1 million
The Raid On National A-1
The raid by federal agents on National A-1 offices over Hotmovies.com and/or Escorts.com still has not resulted in any charges being brought or any arrests, however anytime a lot of federal agents spend some quality time at your office it certainly made for big news in the domain and adult community.
Stolen Domain Names
2010 was the 1st year that stolen domain names got some serious discussion not only on the blogs and boards but had a special session at TRAFFIC.
At least one domainer had identity stolen with the thief using it to steal his domains
A UDRP was filed to recover one, Prince.com, and we found out that venue cannot deal with such a case.
This weeks news that someone who had stolen a domain years ago, p2p.com, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison for up to 5 years, brought even more light to the subject.
.TV Drops Premium Renewal Fees
Many older .TV domains still carry an annual premium but many of those continue to drop and get the new pricing policy.
ICM Wins The Judicial Review
This judicial review, should force ICANN into granting final approval of the .XXX by March 2011 and going live shortly thereafter.
Having started seeking approval this time around in 2003, its a 7 year battle over what appears to be the most controversial extension of all time, with thousands of stories written about it from all over the world in mainstream publications.
3D & New Technology Domains
3D domains certainly caught the eye and interest of the domain world.
Back in July we made a post about what we called the next big thing and since; well as of time of publication, we are pretty close to hitting 1,000 comments on the subject with no end in site.
By the way 3D also made the Xbiz top story list out of the adult world.
So those are my choices for the biggest stories in the domain world for 2010.
If You think you have a better choice, or just want to comment feel free to do so below.
You can place your votes on the right and we will keep the poll opened through the end of the year.
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Holy crap….
This is kind of off the subject (kind of not because it pertains to .CO)
BUT has anyone else noticed that your vanity X.CO can now be changed to what ever domain name you want it to be?
Maybe its just me and the way I see it when I log in but I can edit my information and change my domains that the vanity x.co is attached to.
Please check it out and let me know if I am out to lunch. I could just be looking at this all wrong but if not… that could be sweet if you happen to pick up some nice vanity names.
Cheers
Guys, I’m all for spirited debate. I realize .CO isn’t everyone’s cup of tea – and that’s perfectly fine. Not everyone likes chocolate either. (As absolutely strange as that may sound to many of us!) Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
This said, when giving an opinion, it would probably be a good idea not to cite to completely “made up” statistics (like “98% of all .CO registrations are domainers” versus “real end user acquisitions”) — as it muddies the water between fact and opinion and adds lots of noise and confusion to the topic at hand.
Here are the “actual” facts, based on real registration data, as of today. (Strangely, the real facts are nearly the exact opposite of the hypothesis referenced above!)
Fact: 88% of registrants of .CO domains have purchased only 1-2 .CO domain names each.
Fact: 98.6% of registrants have purchased 10 or less .CO domains each.
Fact: Only a little over 1% of all current registrants of .CO domain names have purchased 11 or more names.
And when we examine this percentage more carefully, it becomes clear that this one plus percent is comprised of many different types of registrants — not solely domainers. Many registrants who bought more than 11 .CO domain names represent networks buying domain names for lead gen sites, marketing and/or advertising agencies buying domains for their clients, and web developers and SEO experts buying for their own use and development.
Everything about the .CO extension was designed with the end user in mind. From our registration policies and protections for brand owners, to our marketing and outreach initiatives — .CO is intended to inspire broad based development by individuals, organizations and businesses — and considered investment by domain investors (as opposed to mass speculation).
Not your cup of tea? That’s great. Please continue to share your opposing opinions with the world. Variety is the spice of life, after all. And it would be quite a bore if we all agreed on everything!
Just please, don’t state opinions as though they are facts. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But the facts are the facts.
Lori Anne Wardi
Director | .CO Internet SAS
The Biggest Story Out Of The Domain World In 2010?
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Uncle Sam – Seizes control of ICANN & IANA via NTI .COMmerce
2010 is not over yet…FCC wants their piece of the action
New York Times – Brian Stelter
“The Federal Communications Commission appears poised to pass a controversial set of rules that broadly create two classes of Internet access, one for fixed-line providers and the other for the wireless Net.”
“The Federal Communications Commission appears poised to pass a controversial set of rules that broadly create two classes of Internet access, one for fixed-line providers and the other for the wireless Net.”
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Domainers will get to register their Domains AGAIN in the new DNS Chaos Class
“create two classes”
There are actually FOUR common classes of DNS most easily available.
Uncle Sam and the FCC appear willing to take the safe route of TWO.
Clueless comedians and politicians like Al Franken are already raging.
Maybe FOUR would be better? Divide based on Adult & Teen ?
Well put Lori Anne Wardi
I believe that you have touched on part of the problem and that is transparency of information. What I mean by that is that we do NOT have a concrete source on which to base information (pro or con) in regards to .CO.
I am very much “PRO” .CO but I still would like to be able to clearly see statistics in which to direct someone who may not have all the information.
Is there any chance that we can have those stats (in some fashion) listed on your site as a general source of information in regards to .CO?
It would be very handy to have a place of reference when siting statistics.
Just my opinion.
Cheers
“we do NOT have a concrete source on which to base information (pro or con) in regards to .CO.”
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Now that the U.S. FCC has formally declared that they are in the Internet Regulation BIZness, people will be able to Petition the FCC for relief.
The U.S. FCC may decide to pass the hot potato over the the U.S. Department
of .COMmerce or .COmmerce or to the State of .COlorado.
In the past (before the FCC jumped in), people would get the ISOC-ICANN run around, with no relief and no results. That was a system born in academic circles with mostly large private Universities facilitating the charades.
Now the U.S. FCC, with real offices in Washington D.C. has stepped forward and said, “The Buck (and BS) stops here…”. Knock on the FCC door. They want people to make them relevant, and they are not drawing million dollar salaries.
I guess I have to read up on the FCC thing because I really dont know what it means to the average person. Mind you, I do NOT consider myself a domainer. This is just a hobby to me brought on though websites.
Cheers
“This is just a hobby to me”
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That is VERY Supported by the U.S. FCC
If you happen to review any of the video hearings of the FCC, you may note the Chairman Julius Genachowski’s comments about how the Internet has evolved
away from support for hobbies and experiments. He refers to kids building their
first crystal radios, and HAM radio operators, etc.
He notes the concern that the Internet has become a Cyber Goose-Stepping Brigade out of some Orwell novel. People flock to I* meetings around the world
to learn all the secret hand-shakes. The U.S. FCC wants to help people see
thru that nonsense and return to a more diverse netscape.
It can not hurt to send Julius a holiday greeting card wishing him and the FCC
staff best wishes and best of luck helping to return the Internet to America.
://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/genachowski/
“Although Go Daddy and its competitors continue to offer .com first, two large retail domain registrars are making a significant push to get customers to register .co.
Both Network Solutions and Register.com are promoting .com as a second choice to .co, with Network Solutions even promoting .co above other domain extensions you’ve selected.
If the .com is available, Network Solutions still slots .co as number two but doesn’t auto select it.
At Register.com .co is called out as an alternative whenever your .com isn’t available. The site pitches the domain as an alternative to .com, saying .co is short for “company”. Alternative TLDs are far down the page:”
Just posting this as an FYI .
I thought it was interesting and goes along with the whole .CO as being one of the main stories for 2010.
Cheers