New domain extensions questions

Hello. I’ve been looking at what’s happening with the new domain names, and as far as I understand, those names will basically not be sold like they are now. As in, some of the big corporations will have filed for control of some extensions such as .news and no one else will be able to use them. And they will not be reselling them. Did I misunderstand?

From what I understand, companies that secure domain extensions will have the option to allow people to use their extension for a fee. So, for example, if a company secures the .news domain, they could, if they choose, allow you to pay for something like myblog.news—just like you’d pay for myblog.com. However, I gather there are some caveats/restrictions on what’s allowed in this regard. It seems a bit hazy at this stage.

I expect, though, that if Nike secures .nike, it won’t be letting us use that extension. :slight_smile:

But you know, doesn’t that feel like a ploy to eliminate any small players from the market? I feel like the emperor in star wars: “Anakin I was right! The Jedi are taking over!” Just like the pushing for e-books and the gradual elimination of printed books will allow companies to charge eye-gouging prices for e-books while at the same time removing the ability to share them (or at least severely crippling the ability to share them), this feels similar: it looks like they are trying to fragment the web and gain control of any valuable domain names, while relegating the dotcoms, dotnets and the old-school extensions to the dustbin. They have the option but not the obligation to sell those extensions, and I might add they don’t have the interest to resell them, either.

I guess we’ll have to see. If I were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a domain name, I think I’d be keen to get some of that money back … but maybe that’s just me.

domain extensions have always had mystery surrounding them … again we wait

I think you mean to convey that companies are getting hold of all the premium domains and not selling them back. That would obviously be one of the strategies to get hold of domains which are of or would be high value in near future (something sort of real estate). But yes, you would always have an alternative, though not the best, you would have next best to go with.

Well, paying 100,000 Dollars or Euros or whatever it was is nothing for a company like Google or Amazon (it’s not even lunch money for them). But gainining control of an extension (.news for instance) and having it all to yourself is priceless.

Some companies that have paid the money will keep it just for themselves as a competitive business advantage; however most of them will likely want to ‘make money over a long-time’ and will grant registrations to end users. Like already mentioned, we will have to see what restrictions are placed on the new domain owners and potential customers.

If you put yourself in their shoes would you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to not recoup any of it… I think this is unlikely. Economics will drive this so likely the little guys will be able to get involved.

Steve