I’ve read about a number of companies and organizations that have already announced plans to apply for a new gTLD. Several of the potential new gTLDs have more than one applicant at this point. From my perspective, it may be best for companies to announce their gTLD application intentions early to dissuade others from applying for the same extension.
Some keywords are more likely to be contested than others. I believe there have been two or more companies announcing their intention to apply for extensions like .nyc, .eco, .gay and a few others. I would imagine there were be multiple applicants for gTLDs like .insure, .hotel, .eat….etc.
However, there are probably plenty of keyword extensions where competition won’t be as fierce. I received a press release from a company that plans to launch .Jewelers, and by being first to announce this, it might dissuade others from applying. With so many available keyword gTLDs, why choose one that someone already claimed, when that will likely mean a lot more money to win the bid?
In my opinion, those who announce intentions earlier are less likely to face competition from others. If I had plans to apply for a particular gTLD and I heard that another company was going to apply as well, I would probably shift my focus elsewhere. The application process should be focusing on how to sell domain names and monetize the gTLD rather than on how to win the bid.
Agree, I don’t think it would dissuade deBeers from going after it, if it wants it. But, there are probably parties that are eyeing several, if not dozens of strings and looking for ‘paths of least resistance’. Making specific intentions known may put off those types of contentions.
I agree with you, Elliot. I also think that announcing the plan to run a gTLD earlier than others can someway confer a sense of authority and legitimacy to that company over the gTLD, so that the association of the gTLD to the company gets stronger as time goes and makes any other later applicant look “illegitimate”.
That being said, I also think new gTLDs will make .com stronger and even dotKeyword.com domains will rise in value, not to say there will likely be a trend for this kind of domains.
I think you’re probably right with the smaller keywords that won’t be as fiercely contested. It’s a bit like auctions where you here that a big heavy hitter is bidding and then get put off bothering yourself.
Elliot,
I once thought the same thing. I thought if I marked the territory, competitors would go elsewhere — there are so many good names out there, why not pick something that’s free and clear.
I was wrong: whenever we announced something, someone copied the idea. Lack of imagination I guess. Now we don’t announce anything at all, and people won’t learn about our initiatives, or our clients’, until ICANN releases the results at the end of April 2012.
Antony