Recent Posts
- Second DNSSEC screw-up takes down Aussie web sites
- Nominet adds handcuffs clause to proposed new Articles
- Single/plural gTLD combos to be UNBANNED
- ICANN rejects a whole bunch of new gTLD policy stuff
- Volkswagen ditches its dot-brand
- Radix looking for a back-end
- Is this why WhatsApp hates some TLDs but not others?
- Blockchain domain firm raises $2.5 million
- Verisign: 1.7 million domain industry growth in Q2
- Namecheap has given away 500,000 free .me domains
- Epik had another terrible month in May
- Blockchain startup gets $5 million to apply for gTLDs
- Buckridge to replace Shears on ICANN board
- CentralNic rebrands as Team Internet
- .ai sells 100,000 domains in a year
- Google to launch two fun new gTLDs next month
- Domainers not welcome as .music readies September launch
- Another six dot-brands self-terminate (two are very strange)
- Four more years for Identity Digital in Oz
- ICANN might be a director light after election stalemate
- ICANN turns down money from blockchain alt-root
- CentralNic chief calls on industry to tackle climate change
- London Domain Summit starts tomorrow
- Closed generics ban likely to remain after another policy group failure
- Ukrainian domains slide as war becomes the new normal
- Epik had worst month ever in April
- Go.Compare now redirecting to the .com
- Huge telco dumps gTLDs after rebrand
- Rejected former director threatens to sue Nominet
- April 2026 is the date for the next new gTLD round
- Doria leaving ICANN board a loss for new gTLD program
- A second new gTLD has FAILED and will be sold off
- .web hit by second ICANN complaint
- Registrar linked to defunct social network terminated
- Three candidates stand for Nominet board
- Next round of gTLDs could come much sooner than expected
- Registering .cv domains might become easier
- Musk prematurely announces Twitter is now X
- Nominet admits membership fees mistake
- Government to regulate UK-related domain names
- Domainer objects to Epik’s acquisition over Masterbucks collapse
- Freenom is losing another ccTLD after collecting military emails
- DENIC kicks out NCC as ICANN’s sole escrow agent
- ICANN takes over country’s ccTLD after Hall of Famer’s death
- ICANN Ombudsman quits
- ICA baffled by plan to outlaw domaining in India
- No $8 million discount for dot-brands, says ICANN
- Epik lost 125,000 domains in Q1
- Buckingham leaves Nominet’s board early
- Epik is off the ICANN naughty step
- Identity Digital is gobbling up Verisign’s back-end business
- o.com auction likely a damp squib after Overstock rebrand
- ICANN actually CHANGES Verisign’s .net contract after public comments
- GoDaddy takes over .health
- The looooong road to urgently hiring ICANN’s next CEO
- Rwanda picked for ICANN meeting
- Governments call for ban on gTLD auctions
- Red Cross gets takedown powers over .org domains
- Domain universe grew 1% in Q1
- Closed generics and IDNs debates are big drag on new gTLDs
- New gTLD registry gets second ICANN breach notice
- Epik lost another 22,000 domains to transfers in February
- Mystery buyer rescues Epik at end of crazy week
- Millions of domains to be deleted as Freenom loses its first TLD
- Everyone hates Verisign’s new .net deal
- UAE boasts rapid domain growth in 2022
- ICANN just put a date on the next new gTLD round
- Three more straggler new gTLDs coming soon
- Three more dot-brands realize the futility of existence
- woke.com among domains in NamesCon auction
- Domainer asks court to block Epik sell-off
- .web delay likely after Verisign rival files ICANN appeal
- CentralNic starts returning cash to shareholders as revenue grows
- Newly launched .zip already looks dodgy
- Progress made on next new gTLD round rules
- Brands ask for cheaper ICANN fees
- ICANN salary porn: 2022 edition
- Tucows and GoDaddy see weakness in big-ticket aftermarket sales
- Another registrar seemingly vanishes
- Verisign “pleased” at ICANN’s .web call
- .hiphop returns to GoDaddy after Uniregistry snub
- Danish national registry changes its name. Don’t laugh.
- ICANN signs Whois’ death warrant in new contracts
- Verisign WILL get .web, ICANN rules
- Verisign narrows domain growth guidance
- Epik exodus topped 100,000 domains in January
- Nominet looking for another director
- CentralNic expects revenue up 24% in Q1
- Epik CEO tries to wriggle out of $327,000 refund lawsuit
- Travel gTLD registry dumps three strings — NOT dot-brands
- Worried about governments seizing .com domains? Too late
- Epik’s meltdown is a ticking time-bomb for ICANN
- Epik customer exodus started when Monster quit
- ICANN wants more newbies on its board
- AcornDomains bought by conference organizer
- Uniregistry successor makes big pricing changes on two TLDs
- ICANN to crowd-source CEO search
- Verisign’s .net contract up for public comment
- About 6,000 .au domains remain contested
- New gTLDs — implementation talks to start next month
- Epik sued over financial meltdown
- ChatGPT maker files UDRP on .com match
- Costerton drops rap album to attract Gen Z to ICANN
- .food registry to dump four dot-brand gTLDs
- Google to drop EIGHT new gTLDs
- .org back-end contract up for grabs
- The end of “do-nothing” ICANN?
- Governments backtracking on closed generics ban
- Radix sold almost $8 million of premiums last year
- .com was a drag on the industry in Q4
- Identity Digital hit by failure of Silicon Valley Bank
- .art links DNS and alt-root ENS
- Brands want new gTLD fast track
- Facebook sues free domains registry for cybersquatting
- Whois disclosure system coming this year?
- Euro registrars merge to form Your.Online
- This is why ICANN is worried about new gTLDs right now
- Identity Digital to launch .watches this month
- Typo .com on sale for $94 million
- First two proper registrars join Web3 Domain Alliance
- IDNs — small and shrinking
- “Everyone thinks you’re a spammer” if you buy keyword domains, says Googler
- New gTLDs report came in under budget
- I let ChatGPT cover GoDaddy’s Q4 earnings for me
- ICANN to approve next new gTLD round next month (kinda)
Amazon and Google deal on .talk, .play, .drive and others
Google and Amazon have started making deals to settle their new gTLD contention sets.
Google won three contention sets against Amazon this week, judging by the latest withdrawals, while Amazon won two.
Amazon won .talk and .you after Google, the only other applicant, withdrew.
Neither company appears to have a “You” brand, unless you count YouTube, but the .talk settlement strongly suggests that Google Talk, the company’s instant messaging client, is on the way out.
When Google applied for .talk in 2012 it intended to give Talk users custom domains to act as a contact point, but in 2013 Google started to indicate that it will be replaced as a brand by Google Hangouts.
The withdrawal seems to suggest that the existence of a gTLD application, a relatively small investment, is not an overwhelming factor when companies consider product rebranding.
I wonder what effect a live, active TLD will have on similar decisions in future.
But Google won the two-horse races for .dev and .drive and after Amazon withdrew its applications.
Google has a product called Google Drive, while Amazon runs Amazon Cloud Drive. Both companies have developer programs, though Google’s is arguably the more substantial of the two.
Google has also won .play — Google Play is its app store — after Amazon, Radix and Star Registry’s withdrawals. Amazon does not have a Play brand.
Google has also withdrawn its application for .book, leaving six remaining applicants, including Amazon, in the contention set.
I don’t currently know whether these contention sets were settled privately or via a third-party auction.
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