Quelle: Newsfactor.com
Following the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announcement earlier this week that top-level domain names (TLDs) dot-biz and dot-info were operational, the registry handling the dot-biz TLD told news sources that its Asian TLD registrars have already signed up a large number of Asian customers.
Richard Tindal, vice-president of sales and business development for Melbourne, Australia-based NeuLevel, which ICANN authorized last year to handle the dot-biz database, told news sources that he completely expects that the company's licensed Asian providers will spearhead the company's success.
According to Tindal, NeuLevel already has 27 registrars located in Asia, the majority in China, Japan and South Korea.
Tindal added that NeuLevel has been inundated with around two million applications for dot-biz TLD's in the first week, and expects to see millions more registered within the next year.
Tindal declined to give precise estimates, however. He was also unwilling to break down the first two million applications by country, telling news sources that the company wants to maintain its neutral stance.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
PR Stunt?
Jeffrey Mann, international vice president for consulting firm the Meta Group, told NewsFactor Network that NeuLevel's disclosure was mostly a public relations stunt.
Mann noted that entities cannot register dot-biz domain names before August 6th, by which time intellectual property issues should be ironed out. Therefore, the numbers cited by Tindal and NeuLevel are what he termed "pre-registry" numbers.
However, Mann said that the current wave of entrepreneurship in the Asian markets might well fuel a dot-biz boom in Asia.
While in the U.S. and in European countries TLD's are only a small part of a company's business model, e-business in Asia is still in the growth stage, where the choice of a domain name can make a difference, Mann said.
Three Factors
Adytia Puri, an analyst with the Yankee Group, told NewsFactor that if Asian companies do indeed snap up a high percentage of dot-biz TLDs, it would most likely be due to three factors.
First, NeuLevel is based in Melbourne, so its proximity to Asian markets and its high percentage of Asia-based registrars make it "seem reasonable that the concentration of names would be there too," Puri told NewsFactor.
Second, the percentage of small and medium businesses in Asia is presently the world's highest, and many of these businesses are seeking new ways of interacting with one another and with larger companies.
Finally, Asia was not a pioneer in the Internet revolution, so most companies, with the exception of large conglomerates like Sony and Samsung, failed to register marketable dot-com addresses. With the advent of dot-biz, these companies have an opportunity to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, Puri said.
Legal Issues
Despite the new suffix, companies that use dot-biz in their addresses must still choose a unique name in order to avoid potential legal liability.
"If a company chooses Madonna dot-biz or Ford dot-biz, for example, it will probably wind up in court" for the same reasons that the Madonna.com cybersquatter did, Puri said.
Meta Group's Mann said that ICANN has developed a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), a combination of rules and arbitration policies, to minimize the problems of cyber-squatting and other domain name-related concerns.
Following the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announcement earlier this week that top-level domain names (TLDs) dot-biz and dot-info were operational, the registry handling the dot-biz TLD told news sources that its Asian TLD registrars have already signed up a large number of Asian customers.
Richard Tindal, vice-president of sales and business development for Melbourne, Australia-based NeuLevel, which ICANN authorized last year to handle the dot-biz database, told news sources that he completely expects that the company's licensed Asian providers will spearhead the company's success.
According to Tindal, NeuLevel already has 27 registrars located in Asia, the majority in China, Japan and South Korea.
Tindal added that NeuLevel has been inundated with around two million applications for dot-biz TLD's in the first week, and expects to see millions more registered within the next year.
Tindal declined to give precise estimates, however. He was also unwilling to break down the first two million applications by country, telling news sources that the company wants to maintain its neutral stance.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
PR Stunt?
Jeffrey Mann, international vice president for consulting firm the Meta Group, told NewsFactor Network that NeuLevel's disclosure was mostly a public relations stunt.
Mann noted that entities cannot register dot-biz domain names before August 6th, by which time intellectual property issues should be ironed out. Therefore, the numbers cited by Tindal and NeuLevel are what he termed "pre-registry" numbers.
However, Mann said that the current wave of entrepreneurship in the Asian markets might well fuel a dot-biz boom in Asia.
While in the U.S. and in European countries TLD's are only a small part of a company's business model, e-business in Asia is still in the growth stage, where the choice of a domain name can make a difference, Mann said.
Three Factors
Adytia Puri, an analyst with the Yankee Group, told NewsFactor that if Asian companies do indeed snap up a high percentage of dot-biz TLDs, it would most likely be due to three factors.
First, NeuLevel is based in Melbourne, so its proximity to Asian markets and its high percentage of Asia-based registrars make it "seem reasonable that the concentration of names would be there too," Puri told NewsFactor.
Second, the percentage of small and medium businesses in Asia is presently the world's highest, and many of these businesses are seeking new ways of interacting with one another and with larger companies.
Finally, Asia was not a pioneer in the Internet revolution, so most companies, with the exception of large conglomerates like Sony and Samsung, failed to register marketable dot-com addresses. With the advent of dot-biz, these companies have an opportunity to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, Puri said.
Legal Issues
Despite the new suffix, companies that use dot-biz in their addresses must still choose a unique name in order to avoid potential legal liability.
"If a company chooses Madonna dot-biz or Ford dot-biz, for example, it will probably wind up in court" for the same reasons that the Madonna.com cybersquatter did, Puri said.
Meta Group's Mann said that ICANN has developed a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), a combination of rules and arbitration policies, to minimize the problems of cyber-squatting and other domain name-related concerns.
