Its a big week in new gTLD world as 14 new domain name extensions go live, as they become available to be registered on a first come, first served basis.
Here are some of the extensions going live starting tomorrow:
.BUZZ
.Pics
.Guitars
.Gift
.Link
.Holiday
.Marketing
.ONL
.Pink
.Red
.Blue
.Kim
and two IDN’s
.pink, .red, .blue, .kim, .shiksha (Hindi for Education) and .移动 (Chinese simplified for Mobile Phone). – See more at: http://domainnamewire.com/page/2/#sthash.vBlzLWwE.dpuf
Also of note this will be the first time that a singular/plural new gTLD will be live.
.Photos has over 9,300 registrations and is the 16th most popular new gTLD domain extension.
.Photo which is a Uniregistry string seems to be priced $10 or so higher for a regular registration than .photos and launches tomorrow.
It will be interesting to see how the plural and singular of the same word does in terms of registration volume.
Earlier landrushes have been restrictive allready, however this time it is beyond. I tried a list of 50 names (skipped the best 300 anyway) and only 2 german words are available under .link. The others are not much better. For me its my job ro register names,ok, but for a normal customer this is a horrible experience especially since the big promise was “more choice”.
@ Raymond – yes, it will be interesting to see how the singular/plural options on .photo/,photos play out. This category also crosses over with .pics & .photography. This potentially splinters the industry (or sub-sectors) across multiple channels (different TLDs).
@Michael Marcovici – I agree’ the impetus for these new gTLDs (according to ICANN) was supposed to be providing new alternatives to people where the .com variant was “unavailable”. However, most desirable options on the new gTLDs will also be “unavailable” for most site-owners, as the registries and domaining moguls hold/secure the most ideal alternatives. The perceived lack of “availability” of .com variants was a misconception (as Rick has emphasized). Suitable .com options are often available – just not all for $9.99 (and neither are the desired gTLDs).
Everyone seemed to be under the misconception that their ideal gTLD would be available to only them at their convenience – this miscalculation will lead to people being disappointed and disenfranchised. What I don’t understand is why these same people aren’t equally upset that oceanfront property isn’t available for wholesale prices. The fact is that premium options carry premium prices. Creating cubic zirconias doesn’t substitute for or equalize the demand for diamonds. People will have to get used to paying premium prices for desirable options; just as they accept that they can no longer buy stock in Google at the IPO share-price.
In my previous comment about .Photography I wasn’t even aware of .Photo and .Photos. (And .Pics to a lesser extent.) Will there be a .Images, .Prints, .FineArt, .Photographs, .Camera, [etc…] as well? Because seriously, people need as many options to throw their money at as they can get. There just aren’t enough choices yet!
@grim:
yes, .photography, .photo, .photos, .pics., .pictures, .art, .camera, .cam, .webcam. are all on the new gTLD list.
There is no shortage of redundancy. Several categories have crossovers:
.sport, .futbol, .soccer, .football, .baseball, .basketball, .nfl, .nba, .mlb, .team, .equipment, and so on…
I can’t find anything decent in link that isn’t on collision, or on registar hold, anyone else having any luck. .buzz is locked up having many premium classified as not available or premium which will be auctioned off later. I think the velocity of this release will be lacking.
Richard
I think .link is the extension Frank said he was reserving the most domains in.
.Buzz has a long and extensive list of premium domains for sale which you can find here:
http://www.buzznames.com/
I think .photo is not going to fair well against the cheaper and better .photos
.Pics should be a pretty good one.
I Can’t think of 100 domains that I would take for $20 ending in .pink, .red or .blue I think all of those go better on the left of the dot than the right of the dot and the obvious ones like hot.pink or baby.blue are NA
I already locked up the .marketing domain I wanted, viral.marketing in the EAP
.Gift is pretty good but most of the domains I like are NA.
.Gifts is coming
.Guitars is pretty niche and I didn’t see very many manufactures apply in Sunrise.
Holiday is much more of a European term, we use vacation in the US which is coming up.