[DNS] Domain dispute heats up

[DNS] Domain dispute heats up

From: Ron Stark <ronstark§snapsite.com.au>
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 21:14:59 +1000
There are some 1.2M businesses in Australia.  Simple arithmetic suggests
that there's a 50% penetration of domain names.

But it's not simple arithmetic.  For example, there are 540 000 ABNs per
year registered, all of whom qualify for a .com.au domain name in terms of
existing regulations.  Now the question is - are those without domain names
"disenfranchised" or are they simply "disinterested".  I suggest the latter.

If .com.au regulations were the inhibitor, then there would be many more
.com's registered to Australian businesses than .com.au's.  Does anybody
have that stat?  In any case, judging by the number of my clients that
receive solicitations for the .com equivalent of their existing .com.au
domain, businesses are choosing .com.au over its .com equivalent.

I make a simple recommendation to my clients.  If it's an Australian
business with an Australian clientele, go for a .com.au.  It's all about
business branding, not about domain pricing or regulations.  Nobody
registers a domain name simply because it's there.  They register a domain
name because it offers some tangible value or underpins other business
objectives, be they brand protection, website or email addresses.

Many, and I suggest the vast majority of ABN registrants have no use
whatsoever for a domain name, let alone other services that derive from it.
Which brings us back to the 1.2M businesses.  And the 600 000 domain names.
Consumers already have a choice - and they're choosing to not have domain
names.  Period.

Ron Stark



: -----Original Message-----
: From: dns-bounces+ronstark=snapsite.com.au&#167;dotau.org 
: [mailto:dns-bounces+ronstark=snapsite.com.au&#167;dotau.org] On 
: Behalf Of Vic Cinc
: Sent: Thursday, 8 June 2006 20:49
: To: .au DNS Discussion List
: Subject: Re: [DNS] Domain dispute heats up
: 
: Darryl (Dassa) Lynch [dassa&#167;dhs.org] wrote:
: > 
: > That is the only question suppliers are interested in, and 
: of course, 
: > if they can profit by meeting that demand.  AuDA and policy is not 
: > interested in the profit and demand is qualified by the benefits or 
: > negative impact meeting the demand may introduce.  Issues 
: which suppliers don't care much about.
: 
: nobody has come up with a single negative impact yet. yet we 
: clearly have a very large disenfranchised community out there.
: 
: > Vic has been tossing a figure of 1 million as wanting to 
: open up the 
: > namespace, personally I don't give that figure much weight 
: as I don't 
: > know how it was derived and I suspect it isn't a true indication.  
: > Even if accepted it means there are another 39 million people to 
: > consider at a minimum before policy is changed.
: 
: its actually a very conservative estimate. pick an open name 
: space of an equivalent country compare the domains per capita 
: to australia and then come back and tell me why .au sells so 
: little and what your justification is for disenfranchising 
: these people.
: 
: .au is for all australians, not just those some feel are worthy.
: 
: Vic
: 
: --------------------------------------------------------------
: -------------
: List policy, unsubscribing and archives => http://dotau.org/
: 
Received on Thu Jun 08 2006 - 11:14:59 UTC

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Sat Sep 09 2017 - 22:00:08 UTC