On the same day that AT&T sold a majority stake in the Yellow Pages for $950 Million dollars, Techworld.com.au, is reporting that a Melbourne based company is going to apply for the new gTLD of .yellow.
“The startup plans to offer brand oriented listing pages for small to medium businesses (SMBs) who may not have an online presence.”
“It aims to target SMBs who are dissatisfied with traditional directory style listings and provides the transition to an online presence. The service is to go live in 2013.”
“”Computerworld Australia spoke with Perera about DotYellow and what he wants to do with the TLD if approved:
What does DotYellow do?
In the same way .com and .net websites are intended for commercial use, and .org is intended for organisations, .yellow websites will deliver brand oriented listing pages known as brand websites. These are intended for small businesses where the majority of the focus is on the customer’s brand.
Why are you launching this online brand listing service?
We’ve been doing a lot of research and found that the business listings industry is doing quite poorly in Australia. A lot of businesses that we talk to feel there is a growing disparity between how much they pay for the Yellow Pages listings and how much return on investment they get back. Research from Google indicates that 85 per cent of all business searches are done online so less people are picking up the yellow book and searching for companies.
How did you get started?
We only began working on this idea in January 2012 after we heard the ICANN announcement that applications for top level domain names were open. We put together this concept and talked to people in the industry including consultants. They thought it was a great idea.
What are the origins of DotYellow?
We have three directors: Myself, a former NEC IT manager and an angel investor, Robert Bell. He provided our initial capital and we’re happy to have someone so experienced on board.
With selecting this domain name, were you concerned that people might confuse DotYellow with the Yellow Pages?
We considered that but there are other Australian companies with yellow in the title such as Yellow Taxis. What we are aiming to do is not just offer a business listing but branded websites. Our concept is if a company comes up with a great line of shoes, a great way to launch is by using one of our website packages.
How many customers do you have at present?
We don’t have any customers until we get ICANN approval for the .yellow domain name. When it gets approved we can allow people to register .yellow domain names.
What happens if the .yellow domain name doesn’t get approval?
Because we don’t find out ICANN’s decision for the next seven months we will consider variations on the name and concentrate on growing a regular domain business where we provide a free open listing database for clients.
If we do get approval, we will use this free listing to offer customers an opportunity to purchase a domain package for $99.””
So are you going to be lining up for your chance to register a .Yellow?
Sounds like .tel
I think yellow works better for cabs these days. Just MHO.
Stupid. It does sound like a lamer version of .TEL for $99.
DrJohnson.yellow. That is just awful.
None of these “new” extensions even look like URLs.
Brad
Domain names are a nmeonic device for remembering a Internet resaouce’s address. There is nothing wrong with that. All these clever ideas are putting lipstick on a pig.
Even if you have a “.yellow” I would still use a credible domain (COM/NET/ORG or ccTLD) to advertise and forward to it.
That is true for most new extensions honestly.
Otherwise good look marketing your new “.yellow” domain.
You are going to run into the O.co problem – lack of awareness and customer confusion.
Brad
the second variation of .tel but even worse sounding
I dont agree that .yellow will be confused similar to the confusion that happens between .co and .com. Yellow is a generic exact word and there is no room for confusion. If I spread a word that my website is abc.yellow, I dont think anybody who wishes to go to my website will go to abc.com. These new gTLDs are going to take out a lot of air from the .com dominance.
~Ismail.
In terms of trade marks it seems to sail very close to Yellow Pages ? Could it be argued that dot Yellow was infringement where dot another colour was not.
There’s no substitute for .COM. From a money standpoint, everything else is just background noise.
Though, I always thought a good TLD would be .WEB, I know it’s redundant with world wide web www. at the beginning, but I still like it. But it’d probably just get lost between .NET and .ORG.
“we don’t find out ICANN’s decision for the next seven months”
Seven Months or Seven Years ?
…and at the end of the ordeal you get a T-Shirt ? and a legal bill ?
and the U.S. Government (and other governments) have [semi-secretly] worked with the real Yellow.Pages.®
and the real Face.Book.® 🙂
@Philip
Could it be argued that dot Yellow was infringement where dot another colour was not.”Could it be argued that dot Yellow was infringement where dot another colour was not.”
Yes.
Clearly they are seeking to tradeoff the reputation of “yellow” pages. So if it’s not a trademark issue it’s a passing of issue.
Asking for trouble.
Stupid.