A Case for Limited New TLD Flavors
Alex
Tajirian
August 21, 2010
La Casa Gelato in Vancouver, Canada, is
doing just fine by selling a grand total of more than 500 ice cream
flavors (wild asparagus, balsamic vinegar, dandelion—you get the
idea). On the other hand, Apple Inc. has built its enviable business
on the principle of the fewer options the better. So, what does
the confused ICANN need to do with its proposed
new top-level domains (TLDs)?
My advice: Go the Apple route. When ICANN unleashes
its next wave of new TLDs, it should keep them few in number.
Scarcity increases demand. ICANN has already
created information scarcity by giving up on its Expression
of Interest submissions initiative, a decision taken at its
March 12, 2010, board meeting in Nairobi. In doing so, it
dropped the idea of having a stage prior to a formal TLD request
submission. On top of this information vacuum, keeping the next
launch to just a few TLDs would create physical scarcity.
But why aren’t new TLDs like gelato flavors? For
large offerings to succeed, customers must be able to sample before
buying Variety also works when customers know what they want and
just need to find a store that provides it.
The initial demand for previously launched TLD
expansions, such as dot-biz and dot-info, can be understood in the
light of sampling. Note that, after sampling through relatively
inexpensive registrations, brand owners decided to keep only a few
of the TLD flavors, which explains the drop in their corporate demand
over the years. A large wave of new TLDs may make them less likely
even to take that first look, since sampling costs can become prohibitive
when TLD types, and the number of combinations within the TLDs,
get as plentiful as flavors at a gelato store
Related References
Topic tags: new
ICANN TLDs
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