Several Twists Await Would-Be Registrants

By Marshal M. Rosenthal
Contributing Writer

The top-level domain (TLD) for the Asia Pacific Internet community, .ASIA, is on track for initial registrations to begin for governments and trademark holders this October and November.

In a recent update, the registry operator of the .ASIA Internet domain, DotAsia Organization, has partnered with ICANNWiki, the grassroots domain collaborative website and industry resource for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) stake-holders.

This arrangement will seek to leverage the Web 2.0 web-based communities to expand online community participation for DotAsia’s .Asia Pioneer Domains Program. The initiative allows for the first time, the online public (including ICANN stake-holders both inside/outside of ICANN) to play a major role in the decision making process as to who will be awarded the best cyber real estate in a domain—in this case, the new .ASIA domain name.

Online polling will take place globally through the ICANNWiki website (www.ICANNWiki.org).

Additionally, DotAsia extended the application period for the Pioneer Domains Program to the middle of last month, Sept. 10, to increase participation. The program will offer an advantage for e-commerce in Asia, especially to businesses and entrepreneurs. It will be the first TLD to set domain registrations based on the quality of development proposals received for any premium domain name.

The program marks a departure from the conventional first-come-first-served approach in order to directly motivate the adoption and positive usage of the domain names—with the ideas deemed to be “best” winning the right to operate the most lucrative .ASIA domains.

Insuring the integrity of procedures for the allocation of domain names, and to protect intellectual property owners against abusive applications, DotAsia will be using the services of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  A specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to the maintenance of a balanced and effective international intellectual property (IP) system, WIPO will serve as the exclusive Challenge Resolution Provider for the .ASIA Pioneer Domains Program.

For a more intimate look at what this all means for domainers, we sat down with Richard Schreier, CEO of Pool.com, the selected auction partner for DotAsia.

Modern Domainer (MD): Do you feel .ASIA will be a successful TLD?  
Richard Schreier (RS): I feel .ASIA will be a success for a number of reasons. First, one must consider what constitutes a success and set expectations accordingly.  Will .ASIA sell like .COM in its first year of availability?  Of course not.  But I believe it will have similar performance to .EU where today, less than two years after launch, there are slightly more than 2.5 million domains registered.  I think .ASIA will meet or surpass this level of performance. 

Second, the marketplace for this TLD is significant;  according to DotAsia there are a 400 million online customers who may have an interest in .ASIA domain names.  As good .COM domains become harder and harder to find, TLDs like .ASIA offer excellent opportunities for business and investors alike to get in on the ground level.  

Third, one need only look at the success of other TLDs in the world like .DE, .CO.UK, .FR and .CA, where growth rates are surpassing that of .COM.  It is not uncommon that the higher performing TLDs show 40% annual growth or higher.  I think all these factors combine to suggest the market is ready for .ASIA and we will see a good uptake as a result.

MD: What about China—are they a “deal breaker” in all of this?
RS: No, I don’t think China would be a possible deal breaker.  As one of the fastest growing regions in the world, I would think it presents opportunity.  I would hope that like .EU, .ASIA will allow organizations in China to reach a broader marketplace.  I believe the .CN domain holder of the same name will be very interested in .ASIA because it instantly expands the market visibility to a much broader community.

MD: What advantages are there for the economics by opening up this internet "real estate"?
RS: I think there are two important questions to consider.  The first is the number of potential consumers this market will provide to prospective businesses—the numbers are staggering.  The second is the pent-up demand that must exist within this community of investors and businesses who have a desire to participate in the internet but have missed the opportunity to do so because their respective .COM domains have already been taken.  It is commonly suggested, for example, that North American advertisers currently spend less than 10% of their marketing dollars on Internet based advertising—and yet that is a multi-billion dollar business.  Can you imagine what this business will really be like when product advertising and distribution dollar’s rise to 30-50% of overall expenditures?  Now, consider the same capacities in the .ASIA marketplace and I think it is easy to see the huge potential that awaits.

MD: Are auctions the right way to introduce a new TLD?
RS: I do believe this is the right way to introduce a new TLD.  The most important effect of the auction approach is that the eventual domain registrant will likely have definitive plans for the domain in order to recoup their investment.  Ultimately, this means that .ASIA will be a content rich community and represent a destination of choice for Asia-Pacific consumers.  

MD: How do you see all this playing out in the future, and what impact do you see it having on the industry at large?
RS: The approach that DotAsia is taking by making competitive domain sales subject to an auction I believe will bring quality domain owners to the table. Clearly the winner of an auction will be the individual who has a well thought-out business plan and knows how they will obtain a return on their investment.  This contrasts with other TLD releases where an electronic free-for-all meant that the eventual registrant of a domain was simply the fastest to the gate and not necessarily the one with the best intentions for the domain. And more importantly, since the investment in those cases were minimal, the financial risk to the registrant posed no real deterrent.  
I would be surprised if the DotAsia approach were not adopted by more new TLDs in the future as I believe it will help to ensure those that win a domain will be those who have solid plans to do something with it other than simply set it aside for monetization purposes.

MD: Can you suggest any strategies for domainers to legitimately obtain names they want, either in the auction or once the domain opens for general registrations?
RS: DotAsia has established a process that is fair for everyone, which means there really is no way to obtain an "advantage" over anyone else or have a better "strategy."  The key to the auction process, and the main reason DotAsia has chosen this approach, is that bidders will have their own sense of value of a domain that will reflect the ROI contained within their respective business plans.  The winning bidder will be that participant who sees higher marginal value in the domain. The message to potential domain investors is to have a good business plan in place that will drive a ROI that is consistent with what they are prepared to pay at auction.