GoDaddy touts India's top level domain name as "the next 'in' thing" on The Net

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 20 January 2009 02:37

Opinion and Analysis

The country top level domain name (ccTLD) system was designed initially to indicate country of origin or at least operation of the domain name owner but ever since the tiny Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu realised there was money to be made from the fact that its ccTLD (.tv) is the same as that of the couch potato's best friend, other have seen the possibility of monetising ccTLDs.

Now GoDaddy,which claims to be the world's largest domain name registrar, is flogging off .IN domain names on behalf of the government of India, billing it a  as a "catchy domain extension."

GoDaddy suggests also that .IN's association with India and its burgeoning economy will give .IN added appeal. Noting that "The .IN Registry calls .IN 'a unique symbol of India and its role in the world'," GoDaddy says: "Currently 60 million of India’s more than one billion residents are avid Internet users. Only three other countries on earth have more people online."

Announcing its offering of .IN domain names, GoDaddy said: "This wouldn’t be the first time ccTLDs offered through GoDaddy have caught on beyond the country they represent. In January 2008, .ME - the country code of Montenegro - was introduced. In the last year, nearly 200,000 .ME domains have been registered for both personal and professional use."

With the help of GoDaddy Montenegro has been busy garnering revenue from those who fancy domain names like about.me, love.me, lookat.me, watch.me, support.me, thisis.me etc.

Go Daddy claimed "the most successful new domain name launch in history" saying it received 20,000 applications in the first 24 hours when registrations for the .me domain name opened in July 2008 . In GoDaddy's first public auction of premium .me domain names in September, the highest price paid  was $US68,000 for Insure.Me.

However GoDaddy is having itself, and the rest of us, on if it thinks it can repeat its .ME success with .IN. Unliike .ME whiich was launched through GoDaddy, .IN names are already available to any one from over 50 registrars   among whom GoDaddy enjoys no special status