DotCo, which is the ccTLD for Colombia, is opening up to general public registration today. According to official sources from both Neustar and CoInternet the registry has handled over 90 thousand registrations in the first 15 minutes!
You can expect the various domain/internet news sites to carry more updates on the volume of registrations over the next 24 hours and beyond.
While the initial registration phase of any new domain extension can attract a lot of media interest and a flood of registrations you need to look at the "big picture".
In a few months time when the initial excitement has died down how many new registrations per day will there be?
More importantly, how many of the domains initially registered will be in active use? And by active use, I mean not "parked" or simply redirecting to an existing site?
The key players in CoInternet's pre-launch marketing have a lot of experience in the domain name industry, so it was not that surprising to see how much hype they were able to generate in advance.
But will that translate into active usage?
I certainly hope so, as many people have invested heavily in the new extension, but I would be worried, as always, that a disproportionate number of names might end up under the control of domain professionals.
It's too early to tell obviously, so in the meantime let's wish them all the best of luck with the launch - it looks like it's going very well so far!
By Michele Neylon, MD of Blacknight Solutions. Visit the blog maintained by Michele Neylon here.
Related topics: Domain Names, Registry Services, Top-Level Domains
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Michele,
That is an amazing number. You're thoughts reminded me of the .Asia launch. Prior to the launch they held a contest whereby people could submit business plans on how they would develop their domain, if received. If memory serves me there were several hundred entries, with some, understandably, being duplicates. The community also had a chance to vote on the best plans. Those who had the best plans were awarded the name with the idea that there would be a good amount already in development and not become a parked page. This program was held before landrush.
Chuck
Do you have any idea what happened with any of them?
It would be interesting to see "where are they now" :)
Michele
It was called the Co-Founders program. You can see the accepted entries at http://www.opportunity.co/
90,000 names in 15 minutes?
Almost makes a scenario conceivable in which a group or mercenaries carry out a military coup in some small country and then break up the state so as to create more country codes and more CC TLDs to profit from.