Domain Name News
.INFO Doing Better Than Expected
July 17, 2002
Despite a rough start, maybe even because of it, Afilias' .info domain extension is gathering steam and might even one day supplant one of the original three top-level domains (TLDs) in popularity.
Afilias, awarded the registry contract to one of seven new TLDs approved by ICANN last year, has managed to garner 900,000 registrations since its Sunrise pre-registration process began late last year.
Despite several well-publicized glitches in the domain extension's rollout and Sunrise registration, the registry quickly found alternate solutions and began signing up new registrants at a blistering pace, garnering 500,000 domain owners in the first 90 days.
The limited number of .com and .net domain addresses had a lot to do with .info's success initially. Overseas companies, namely in countries like Germany and Korea, have only recently seen a surge in Internet business, long after primarily U.S. companies took all the good ones.
The new TLD opens space on the Internet for new companies to grab a usable domain name. Now, the only question is whether Afilias can keep interest in the new TLD alive.
Dr. Bob Connor, associate professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, and a vocal critic of Afilias' early attempts at .info management, concedes the company has done a good job addressing some of the complaints leveled at them.
Details at: http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/1414181
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