Google just rolled out with auto-fill in the Safari browser, following in the footsteps of Yahoo. When you enter a search term into Google, it makes suggestions to complete your search for you. This could be detrimental to domain owners, as people frequently type in the actual destination domain name into their search engine query, but with Google’s suggestions (which don’t include domain names), it may be less likely that people will continue their search entry.
As I posted in February, Google was testing this on other country sites, such as Google Korea.
Google Implements Auto Fill in Safari
YouTube.mobi…
…doesn’t have videos because Google doesn’t own it. If you want to visit YouTube on your mobile browser, you need to visit m.YouTube.com. I don’t understand why a major registry like .mobi (or any other new registry) would sell a clear trademark domain name to a private domain investor. In my opinion, a registry needs the leading companies (like Google/YouTube) to market their websites using these new extension in order for people to adopt, which would lead to the growth of the registry.
YouTube.mobi would have been the perfect way to show that Google had confidence in .mobi. Now, if a savvy web browser tries to visit YouTube on his browser using .mobi, he will be left with a website with no videos. Why haven’t they filed a UDRP or an injunction to stop the owner from using their trademark to get this important domain name? One reason can be seen in this article found in the Yahoo Tech Ticker. For comparison purposes, Google owns the rights to YouTube.tv, YouTube.asia, YouTube.me, YouTube.eu and many other newer TLD.
The point of this is to basically say that while I do believe that relevant domain names in alternative extensions are good if they make sense, I also think you need to consider exactly which extension to purchase. You need to see whether consumers are really adopting the extension, which would add value to your brand and domain investment. Also,
Likewise, the registries need to do all they can to make sure consumers adopt their brands. Consumer adoption will lead to investor adoption, and more domain names will be sold if people use them. When speculators own and don’t develop the prime domain names of a particular extension, consumers can’t adopt. If consumers can’t or won’t adopt, the domain names aren’t really worth much. The only sales will be to other investors, and eventually the bubble bursts when new money isn’t invested.
Google Funding: Google Should Buy Funding.com
The Wall Street Journal reported that Google will be adding a technology venture capital division to its continuously diversifying portfolio of businesses. In the past, Google has been known to buy rapidly growing companies whose products would fit in well with the Google ecosystem. Now it seems that Google is poised to offer seed funding to tech companies with great promise. Personally, I think this is a great move. Not only will they be able to capitalize on companies at the beginning, but in addition to funding, they can also provide invaluable advice and support, as they were once a new company with a great base idea.
What better way to do this than to buy Funding.com, which happens to be owned by a good friend of mine. Since Google is likely to direct traffic to funding.google.com, they might as well try to buy Funding.com before their launch. This domain name will become a necessary asset to their company, and once the currently incubating Funding.com company is launched, the name will be untouchable
Another Hat Thrown into Yahoo Ring
According to today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal, another potential Yahoo suitor has entered into negotiations. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, owners of popular social networking site MySpace, has begun negotiating with Yahoo to combine these two Internet powers. The article mentions that News Corp. could receive a stake in excess of 20% of Yahoo.
In recent weeks, merger and acquisition talks involving Yahoo have included many suiters, including Microsoft (who made a $44.6 billion offer), Google, AOL, and possibly others. These talks have helped push up the value of Yahoo stock over the past couple of weeks. In my opinion, the acquisition talks are a sign of strength for the domain industry, as it shows other companies with Internet experience are bullish on Internet advertising and search. While this ultimately may not be the best for PPC income, I think it shows faith in our industry.
Google Using Auto-Fill
Today I noticed that Google appears to be using an auto-fill application in at least one of their foreign landing pages. When you perform a search on Google’s Korean portal, Google offers to help you fill in the remainder of your search for you. This also allows the user to see how many results are listed for each keyword.