Web.com Starts Accepting Pre-Registrations For .Web Domain Names

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Web.com (WWWW) which owns Register.com and NetworkSolutions.com announced last night that they applied for the new gTLD .Web.

Web.com is taking “pre-reservations” for .Web domain names.

Here is some text from the signup page:

“The introduction of .WEB™ extensions may be the biggest thing that has happened to domain names since .COM.”

“”

  • .WEB™ registry will be provided by Web.com – an industry leader on the internet with an excellent reputation and recognizable brand
  • .WEB™ is easy to remember and communicate
  • .WEB™ will not be confused with any other domain extension””

Here’s the statement I don’t like:

“””WEB™ registry will be provided by Web.com””

Its the same issue I had a little while back with ICM Registry whose CEO stated on a Television interview that his company  would be getting .sex, .porn and .adult like its a forgone conclusion.

In this case I know of other applicants for .Web, matter of fact the general consensus is that .Web may be the extension that gets the most application.

So to say that “the WEB™ registry will be provided by Web.com“, its misleading because they nor does anyone else know for sure.

They have an excellent change of getting the extension but there is no guarantee they will wind up with and to give any other impression is misleading.

Of course there is no charge for registering for a .Web address from Web.com nor once you do sign up do you know if you will even get the domain, since the domain you per-reserve might wind up on their premium list or in an auction with others who have per-registered a .Web address.

About Michael Berkens

Michael Berkens, Esq. is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheDomains.com. Michael is also the co-founder of Worldwide Media Inc. which sold around 70K domain to Godaddy.com in December 2015 and now owns around 8K domain names . Michael was also one of the 5 Judges selected for the the Verisign 30th Anniversary .Com contest.

Comments

  1. "there is no guarantee" says

    “there is no guarantee”

    Does ICANN **guarantee** anything ?
    Does the U.S. Government **guarantee** IANA can do anything ?

    It will be very surprising if 100% of the ICANN Applicants who expressed interest in .WEB do not join the WEB.COM movement.

    That leaves ICANN with two choices, just like in 2000.

    1. Censor (Sanction) .WEB
    2. Add .WEB to their legacy root zone (which is not guaranteed to be used)

    Meanwhile – the .WEB Community is moving forward faster than ICANN

    You can guarantee there will be many articles and blogs about how .WEB navigated the ICANN process and became a household extension.

  2. "there is no guarantee" says

    “It will be very surprising if 100% of the ICANN Applicants who expressed interest in .WEB do not join the WEB.COM movement…”

    …or request a 100% REFUND in the next few days 🙂

  4. George Kirikos says

    “Free” is too much for a .web, where the registrant would be promoting their TLD (I don’t own .tk names, which are also “free”).

    If they want to start *paying* folks to use their swampland gTLDs, then now we’re talking! 🙂

  5. Michael H. Berkens says

    Lets not forget there are 7 million .info registered at $7 or so wholesale

    That’s $49 Million gross folks not a terrible income stream for the registry

  6. Joe says

    From Web.com TOS

    “Since the “.WEB” TLD is obviously very similar to the Web.com trade name, trademarks, and the character string associated with the main Web.com web address, http://www.web.com, it is clear that Web.com should be the company to operate and administer the .WEB™ domain registry and this is a role that Web.com expects to assume and looks forward to doing so. Moreover, the issuance of .WEB™ to anyone other than Web.com would not only infringe on the trademark rights in Web.com, but the use of .WEB™ by anyone other than Web.com would mislead and confuse consumers into thinking that any website with the .web suffix was associated with or sponsored by Web.com. Therefore, Web.com has taken steps to secure the necessary approvals to operate and administer the .WEB™ domain name registry and remains committed to aggressively continue to pursue such approvals.”

  7. George Kirikos says

    I’d be curious to see the financials of Afilias / .info, as there are many “free” or $1 promos for .info (that’s why .info had so much abuse). I wouldn’t assume it’s $49 million gross, without more proof.

  8. George Kirikos says

    By the way, if Web.com supported my “Ascended TLDs” proposal (I’d link to it, but then the comment would hit moderation — Google “ascended tlds kirikos” to find it), they’d be able to get .web easily — i.e. since they owned the .com variation, they could “ascend” to root.

    ICANN doesn’t actually want new TLDs — if they did, they would simply allow anyone with the .com to “ascend” automatically (or for a small fee).

    What ICANN *does* want is money-making for itself and its insiders. So, it’s “new TLDs with the proviso that it’s *under our rules*” that they want, with the rules stacked in their favour.

  9. Tom says

    Lol, only way I take .info is $1 or FREE, via on a hunch, or to protect a brand short term, renewals at $7 lol no way

  14. Dave says

    Thanks a lot for the good article on Web.com Starts Accepting Pre-Registrations For .Web Domain Names. This is very helpful for a newbie like me.

  15. PS says

    So what are they telling people who “pre-registered” .web domains with IOD in the 90’s? I suggest people research the history of .web.