back to article Google turns on shiny new .google top-level domain – but WHY?

Google has turned on its namesake top-level domain (TLD) with the creation of 'nic.google' representing the internet giant's entry into the domain name market. Currently the domain redirects to Google's registry page where it outlines the other internet extensions it has already won the rights to, including: .ads, .dad, .fly …

  1. Denarius
    Alert

    I hope this does not mean

    more bot army C&C domains appearing quickly. More spam sources likewise. Have I missed other appropriate fears ? Or, are deckchairs and popcorn appropriate if one is in cloud and hosting businesses ?

    1. Salts

      Re: I hope this does not mean

      "More spam sources" perhaps with Googles resources it could mean less spam if you use a google domain and their email?

      Though not being a marketing bod, it really seems to me, if you have a global brand and can have a TLD, why would you not, in marketing terms it does seem very under priced.

      I remember in the mid 90's a comment from an AOL user that went a bit like this " I have an aol.com email address, that is invaluable" I did piss myself laughing, but AOL was big in those days.

      All critique aside, if I had the money and the brand that Google has, well, just silly not to.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why "iphone.apple"?

    If someone wants info on the iPhone, they'll just search for 'iphone' in their browser of choice. This might be a good idea for companies that lack the marketing might and reach of Apple and Google.

    I foresee it being used more by startups. I can already see the Super Bowl ads where some new company or product is introduced and everyone is told to visit the wacky looking domain and their TLD server falls over and catches fire because while they were smart enough to provision enough resources on the product's web site, they forgot about the TLD server that would be forced to responds to millions of DNS queries for newproduct.company name that wasn't cached anywhere...

    1. thames

      Re: Why "iphone.apple"?

      It's not just "iphone.apple.com" they are worried about. If you type "www.iphone.com" into your browser you will get redirected to an "apple.com" URL. Companies register domains for individual products, not just for their own company name.

      When Apple launches their next "iSomething" and are thinking about what to name it, they won't have to worry about whether the domain name speculators have already snaffled up all the good ".com" domain names in advance due to rumours and speculation. They control all the names in ".apple" and don't have to pay someone off to buy the product ".com" domain name.

      The big question will be whether they can train their customer base to look in ".apple" first, rather than ".com". If they can't do that the whole exercise will have been pointless.

      Of course most people just plug the name of something into Google and pick one of the top links. We could probably just use raw IP addresses and most people wouldn't notice any difference.

  3. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

    Money for ICANN

    No one - not even the brands themselves - know yet what to do with their slice of the internet

    Only ICANN is interested in these domains as another source of money. The big companies (BBC, et al) have all bought these domains just to protect their brand name - not because they wanted them.

    [T]he fees [Google] needs to pay ICANN - a flat fee of several thousand dollars a year and 20 cents per domain..

    Why? Does it really cost several thousand dollars a year to maintain a few lines in the root nameserver configuration files? Surely with the hundreds of thousands of dollars ICANN charged to apply for these domains, ICANN could let the winners have them for no ongoing fee?

    1. VinceH

      Re: Money for ICANN

      "Does it really cost several thousand dollars a year to maintain a few lines in the root nameserver configuration files?"

      No, it costs several thousand dollars a year to stop someone from deleting them.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maps wiped out the GPS market?

    For the casual user and traveler, maybe. And just those who never travel abroad.

    1. Stuart 22

      Re: Maps wiped out the GPS market?

      I cycled to the Med this summer. Used real maps between towns. Used Google (saved) maps in towns. Worked perfectly with no roaming data costs.

      Going to Athens next week. Saving Google Maps right now. Not bad for free. I guess if I was a [redacted word] I might use old fashioned GPS but don't let on to your local spook.

  5. Khaptain Silver badge

    Huge Opportunity

    >The opportunities and possibilities are huge and many will be looking to Google to help draw out the future.

    Well someone will have to explain them to me because for the life of me I can't imagine how any can possibly "increase" upon the existing marketing vectors.

    We are already permamnantly bombarded with publicty and marketing, without drilling directly into the brain I dont see how it can be further increased just by using some domain names.

    In Grenoble the Mayor is removing all of the publicity panels from the town, I hope that the idea spreads all over France.

  6. Lee D Silver badge

    I still don't get it. Imagine "iphone.apple"? Yes. And? So what? It's the Internet equivalent of a personalised numberplate and quite apt, in these circumstances, to be for a company that puts vanity and image over practicality and engineering.

    "Gmail completely overhauled the webmail market by offering huge amounts of storage for free. Its Android mobile operating created an entire new arm of the phone market. Its Google Maps wiped out the GPS navigation device market almost overnight. Google News has massively reordered how people find the latest information online. Google Calendar forced a huge shift in the calendaring market."

    Not one of which required anything more than a .com of it's own, but actually even a gmail.google.com exists and works just fine and ties in with your brand and COSTS NOTHING.

    I don't see why I should be cheering brand-name TLD's (and Ferrari is an especially spurious one as there are millions of people with the surname Ferrari, it's like the Italian equivalent of registering .smith - and my poor grasp of Latin tells me it might actually be THE equivalent of Smith in the farrier sense) - companies are throwing the money I give them away on vanity domains that do nothing and attract no-one.

    And, I mean... it's google,for God's sake. It's become a verb. You find all these horribly-domained places by Googling them! Certainly Google doesn't need one of their own!

    1. Friendly Neighbourhood Coder Dan

      @ Lee D

      The word Ferrari itself doesn't mean anything, however you were right in recognising that it comes from the Italian word "ferro" ( iron ).

      It was the nickname given to many smiths ( ref, in Italian : www.paginebianche.it/cognome/ferrari.htm ), more or less the equivalent of iron-er, just like build-er is to the verb to build.

      I've just learned something new myself, I would never have even realised that the word "Ferrari" was so similar to "ferro" without your comment :-)

  7. RyokuMas
    Devil

    Predatory pricing...

    "If it does provide this service, then the US$50 a year plus $100-$500 hosting costs of other domains may suddenly start looking a little steep."

    In many places predatory pricing is deemed anti-competitive and is illegal.

    At what point does offering free stuff - or "free stuff with lots of extras (eg: huge storage space)" become anti-competitive?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All part of the plan

    Ultimately I'm sure they'd like to see everything in the world apart from 'Google' shift left one place so that ".google" is synonymous with 'Earth'.

  9. ratfox
    Headmaster

    Seems useless to me

    > Of the 1,400 applications for new internet extensions, exactly one third were the names of well-known existing companies

    That is not possible, because 1,400 is not a multiple of three.

    That said, I expect that the majority of these companies already own the related *.com domain. In theory, this could make it possible to save four characters when typing. Woo-hoo.

    Unfortunately, I suspect that most people will get confused by an internet domain name that does NOT end with .com, .net, .org, .edu or a two-letters country code. As it is, I already do a double-take whenever I see an address ending with .info or .biz.

    Go to iphone.apple.com <-- recognizable by 99% of people

    Go to iphone.apple <-- Huh?

    1. Jonathan Richards 1
      Meh

      Re: Seems useless to me

      +1.

      And .zip? What's that all about? Closures for trousers, or a well-used file extension for compressed data?

      1. nijam Silver badge

        Re: Seems useless to me

        Don't the colonials use 'zip' to mean 'nothing'?

  10. Richard Jukes

    And yet...

    And yet we all know that the only TLD to have is .com

    Perhaps .co.uk if you really feel like covering your bases.

  11. John Tserkezis

    "If it does provide this service, then the US$50 a year plus $100-$500 hosting costs of other domains may suddenly start looking a little steep."

    Not really, if I have ads on ***MY*** website, I expect said ads will be entirely under ***MY*** control.

    The ads you show on your site reflect your site. If the ads are under control of a third party, and you start getting penis enlargment ads appearing, then whatever respect you thought your site had - is now gone. Pack up, go home, nothing left for you here anymore.

    Unless of course you're one of the new lucrative .google.porn double decker TLDs, in which case, you'll probably be hoping for that kind of thing.

  12. verm71

    If you go to http://com.google today, you'll know why ;-)

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