2014-08-22

Free Domain Names, Supply and Demand, ICANN

.XYZ, .BERLIN, .TK, .ML, .GA .CF.... will there be more free domain name programs to come?

supply and demand - Vox: "... on the internet, there's no scarcity: there's an endless amount of everything available to everyone. The laws of supply and demand don't work terribly well when there's infinite supply. [Taylor] Swift is right that "important, rare things are valuable," but she's failed to understand that the idea of rarity simply doesn't exist in the digital marketplace....."

And so it is with domain names, except for the global business preference and habits of users worldwide to use the .com extension. But understanding the intention of ICANN to continue to create thousands of new gTLDs, for almost anyone willing to fork over $185,000, and "if" the new gTLD hucksters are right and eventually users somehow remember hundreds to thousands of new domain name extensions--why pay for a domain name? Why not just get a free domain name?

In fact here is a supplier of free domain names now (by the way, this is not a sponsored post):

According to its YouTube video "about" text, Freenom is a provider of free domain names; from its office in Amsterdam it "manages more than 19 million domains." It is the Registry Operator of .TK, .ML, .GA and .CF - and "many more top level domains to come. Join our team and join us to disrupt the domain name industry!"  (Video published on Sep 13, 2013)

Caveat Emptor--read the fine print--http://www.freenom.com/en/freeandpaiddomains.html

And surely Google Domains is thinking about a program of free domain names in extensions it controls as long as you park the name, or develop it, on a Google platform embedded with Adsense advertising?

But then again, seeing how desperate some of the new gTLD registries are becoming, is it out of the realm of possibility that one or more of the new gTLD registry operators will soon actually pay large brands (or even small brands) to move one or more their websites to a new gTLD domain? Talk about adding insult to injury, imagine the following response to such an offer: "I wouldn't have that new gTLD domain name for my website even if you paid me to take it!" In fact, one very astute domain name investor has already said as much.





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