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Canon aims to register the .canon domain. Will others follow suit?
In the ever-shifting maze of domain names, ICANN, and approved registrars, companies often behave as if their valuable intellectual property is in the crosshairs of evil domain-name squatters. The new gTLD system, slated to kick off in 2011, only makes the universe of possible domain-name fights even bigger. Canon is already battening down the hatches for the day when you'll be able to register dot-anything as a domain, by announcing its intention to buy .canon. In its press release, Canon says it finds value in the new gTLDs because .canon will be easier to remember than Canon.com. I'm not sure I agree, but it's conventional wisdom that you ought to defensively register your company name before a squatter gets it. It might not be accurate conventional wisdom, though. One study found that, out of 1043 major companies, only a small percentage even bothered to grab up the last round of new TLDs, which included duds like .pro and .cat.
Companies don't bother to register these upstart TLDs, and squatters also don't bother to exploit them. The survey found plenty of corporate-friendly domains that were completely unregistered. So, maybe .canon is a good buy, but it's not likely that corporations will be shelling out billions of dollars to buy every generic TLD they can think of.
[via Daring Fireball]
Comments
18
Subscribe to commentsRogueJedi86Mar 17th 2010 11:17AM
"In its press release, Canon says it finds value in the new gTLDs because .canon will be easier to remember than Canon.com."
So what would their new url be? www.canon.canon? That sounds redundant and a bit silly. If .canon matters so much, would they give up canon.com? I'd rather companies just stick with the easy to remember .com.
Once you start down this road, where do you stop? Would downloadsquad.com move to downloadsquad.downloadsquad, as an example? .Com is short and sweet, it's all I need.
blasztaMar 17th 2010 10:56PM
Wrong. Think like these:
camera.canon
eos.canon
printer.canon
scanner.canon
...and so on.
Brian!Mar 18th 2010 12:46AM
You do realize that http://canon would work if they own the TLD for that.
Or, more to the point, just type "canon" in your browser and you are there.
XeroCintMar 17th 2010 11:32AM
I think the whole ".com" is part of the internet's mantra at this point in the game, I think a person is less likely to remember cam.canon than canon.com...
BlackCoffeeNoSugarMar 17th 2010 12:26PM
When will ICANN realise that the existing extensions are more than enough. How many of us have ever visited a .coop or .pro site? Have you ever booked a flight on a .aero or .travel site? What's the point of having a .museum TLD that most people have never heard of it?
Tyler MillsMar 17th 2010 12:32PM
ICANN just recently approved this, this is why you haven't seen many of these domains yet. Examples:
http://themeparks.disney
http://cameras.canon
http://moutaindew.pepsi
CarlMar 17th 2010 12:45PM
No surprise that .cat was a dud. That whole "I can haz cheezburger" meme is so over.
AlbertMar 17th 2010 2:41PM
.cat is for sites in catalan, not for lolcatz.., I wouldn't consider it a bad TLD... Even Google or Microsoft have their own: www.google.cat and www.microsoft.cat
It is widely used in Catalonia.
CarlMar 17th 2010 2:43PM
I can haz humor detector?
RickyMar 22nd 2010 5:35PM
Why not .xxx domain name for porn site then? It is better in many ways. One can easily block it plus there is easy to block such websites for kids.
RowedaheliconMar 17th 2010 2:34PM
www.canon.canon ?
Nakul SharmaMar 17th 2010 3:40PM
i was gonna say the same. www.canon.canon or http://canon.canon looks stupid
John LaurMar 17th 2010 7:43PM
The application fee for a gTLD is a non refundable $185,000. Per the ICANN documentation about it, it's unlikely that .cannon will be accepted at all. I think by throwing a lot of PR behind their application, they hope to turn the decision in their favor. In my own opinion I think accepting a .cannon gTLD would be terrible precedent for ICANN and sincerely hope they reject the application and send Canon a thank you for the cash.
Honestly, I'm not really sure if any company currently has the kind of outlay or diverse service offerings that might actually benefit from having their own gTLD; perhaps Google; maybe some Tier 1 SP networks would benefit; it's tough to say; nobody has really made a good use case.
ChrisMar 17th 2010 5:57PM
Once they own the .canon TLD they can redirect all traffic from any 2nd level to the appropriate page, i.e. http://canon.canon isn't what they have in mind. They might have cameras.canon, printers.canon, etc. and then as a failsafe redirect all unregistered 2nd level domains to canon.com or home.canon
Boomshadow...Mike BoomshadowMar 18th 2010 10:02AM
.biteme
That one still open?
brianleeMar 19th 2010 2:11AM
I am opposed to this. Let's stop this from happening. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105434869480091
yuurei JOHNNYMar 20th 2010 4:19AM
There's a fundamental problem in their thinking though. Yes .canon is easier to remember, but being easy to remember is only important for users who don't know how to search Google for the right website (basically, moms and grandparents). And those users may be able to remember .canon, but they won't know how it works, i.e., they'll be typing .canon.com. It kind of defeats the whole purpose.
MarcoMar 25th 2010 12:05AM
>> only important for users who don't know how to search Google
>> for the right website (basically, moms and grandparents).
But why use a search engine for "cannon printer" if one can just open http://cannon? Search engines are full of spam and it's not that easy anymore to find real relevant search results.