Nominet the company that runs the .UK ccTLD on behalf of the United Kindom announced today that it was going ahead with its controversial plan to domain go launch the shorter .uk domain name not only to compete with all the thousands of new gTLD’s most notably .London, but to bring the UK into line with other European countries such as France (.fr), Germany (.de) and Ireland (.ie)
Nominet existing .uk customers will be offered first refusal of the shorter equivalent of their current address, with five years to decide whether they want to use it in addition to, or instead of the domain they already have with those holding the .co.uk domain getting preference over those holding other versions like org.uk
Nominet will begin a market marketing push to make sure its customers are ware of the changes and says it will announce a launch date for the service in February 2014.
Nominet says the price for the new domains will remain at £3.50 for a single year registration and £2.50 for multi-year registrations.
Nominet CEO Lesley Cowley is quoting as saying:
“We’re excited to offer the option of a shorter, snappier domain name that we believe will appeal to both our existing customers and the businesses and bloggers of tomorrow.”
According to Nominet a survey of UK business decision makers found that 72% thought direct ‘example.uk’ registrations should be an option, while only 2% thought they shouldn’t.
I’m sure this is a huge relieve to a lot of domain investors in the .Uk as some versions of the new plan had the .Uk domain name going to the oldest registration rather to the .co.uk holder
10% of my portfolio is co.uk
I’m so glad years ago I stuck
to only investing in .com
This is a big headache for .co.uk
business owners and I’m sure other countries are going to do the same.
Too many people want a slice of the cake. This will make other businesses only focus on buying the .com so they are 100% secure.
.co.uk
.london
.uk
gTLDs
It’s going to be like finding in a needle and haystack finding the right website soon.
I’m sure no palms were greased during the process of coming to this decision…
Fortunately I too have mostly .com domains (even though I am from/live in UK), but apart from 4 that point to a developed website for which I will also get the .uk, I reckon I’ll get the .uk version then drop the co.uk. This may also be a good excuse to drop some altogether.
Mmmm, this is going to be interesting, just how are the registrars going to ascertain which .uk is valid for reservation and which one can be registered?
Wait 5 years lol.
Dr. Yes like finding a needle in a haystack…or you can go with the oak tree that’s standing alone outside the barn, that is .com.
a good way to make twice the money with the same TLD … 🙂 … it seems a bit like the .co (vs. .com) business … anyhow, I like the short .uk and I’ll surely buy some .uk domains