While much of the talk has been about new gtlds, a once obscure country code domain has really caught fire over the last year. The .io extension has become a hot topic of debate and speculation lately. Even Google keyword searches have seen a spike up for .io extension.
First things first, the .io is a country code and not a gtld as some in the pro .io camp have liked to pronounce. I have spent years covering .tv and some there like to call it a gtld, again it is not. Now Google does have its own special category for how it treats certain extensions in its search results.
Google calls repurposed country code domain Gcctlds. From Support.Google:
Generic Country Code Top Level Domains
Google treats some ccTLDs (such as .tv, .me, etc.) as gTLDs, as we’ve found that users and webmasters frequently see these more generic than country-targeted. Here is a list of those ccTLDs (note that this list may change over time).
.ad
.as
.bz
.cc
.cd
.co
.dj
.fm
.io
.la
.me
.ms
.nu
.sc
.sr
.su
.tv
.tk
.ws
.io is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the British Indian Ocean Territory.
On June 30,2014 David Meyer wrote an article on GigaOM that discussed the “Dark Side” of the .io extension. The article discusses how the native inhabitants were removed from their home by the British government.
From that article:
The .io deal
The rights for selling .io domains are held by a British company called Internet Computer Bureau (ICB), which also holds the rights to sales of .ac and .sh domains — indicating the South Atlantic islands of Ascension and Saint Helena respectively — and others. The .io domains each cost £60 ($102) before taxes, or twice that if you’re outside the EU.
The British government granted these rights to ICB chief Paul Kane back in the 1990s. ICB gets to run .io “more or less indefinitely, unless we make a technical mistake,” Kane told me. (ICB has so far run a stable .io namespace. It should be noted that Kane is a respected veteran of the infrastructure scene, and has been entrusted by ICANN with one of the 7 so-called “keys to the internet”.)
Kane would not disclose the number of .io domains that are sold each year, nor how much of the revenue go to the government. However, he said a fixed amount per domain goes to the “Crown bank”, with the rest being reinvested in the Domain Name System (DNS) services he operates, such as CommunityDNS. “We are a for-profit company that has elected to make sure that the monies received go into infrastructure investment,” he said.
As for the money going to the British state, “profits are distributed to the authorities for them to operate services as they see fit,” Kane explained. “Each of the overseas territories has an account and the funds are deposited there because obviously the territories have expenses that they incur and it’s offsetting that.”
The article goes on to speak to many startups and see how they feel about the situation and the human rights story that goes along with the .io extension. The article also mentions something that all registrants should care about.
There is another remote possibility — Mauritius might win its sovereignty dispute with the U.K. over the Chagos Islands. If that happens, the ownership of .io rights would probably be up in the air.
If you are going to partake in the extension, this is worth your time to read in its entirety.
Flippa has been one of the hot spots for buying and selling of .io domains. The domain file.io sold for $4,050 last month, and there have been several .io sales over the last few months.
Microsoft purchased Doc.io for $24,600 back in 2010. The domain currently redirects to Docs.com.
A few other .io Domain sales:
- n.io $40,000
- es.io $30,000
- x.io $30,000
- r.io $29,650
- doc.io $20,000
- food.io $10,000
- groups.io $10,000
- mega.io $10,000
- casino.io $6,300
- pay.io $6,150
- coding.io $5,000
- send.io $5,000
- london.io $4,920
- blue.io $4,500
- trade.io $4,000
- 888.io $3,888
- pic.io $3,500
- event.io $2,500
- geo.io $2,500
- body.io $2,300
- file.io $2,050
- files.io $2,000
- fit.io $1,950
- viral.io $1,950
- foreclosures.io $1,150
There is a website for $99 backorders at Park.io you can read the discussion on Namepros as there are mixed opinions.
The most active discussion about the extension is taking place on Namepros, the thread there has gotten quite active with a host of mixed opinions. It is worth reading to get all sides if you are going to jump into the .io pool.
.IO domains have been expensive in the past for just a basic registration, NameCheap has stirred things up by offering regs for $32.88.
Another note the registry has made a policy on adult related names.
6. APPROPRIATE USE
No .IO domain may be used, directly or indirectly, for any purpose that is sexual or pornographic or that is against the statutory laws of any Nation. In the event of NIC.IO being advised by any party that a specific site breaches this condition then NIC.IO reserves the right to immediately deactivate the offending registration. The applicant may seek the reinstatement of any suspended domain name by seeking a determination by an Arbitrator appointed by the World Intellectual Property organisation.
Feel free to leave a comment if you are pro, negative or undecided.
Tech startups are faddish enough to copy their predecessors (who bought a cheap .io) by buying an expensive .io … but only when they have VC funding. When they don’t, they pinch their pennies.
The .io fad began as a cheap non-.com option before the 2014-2015 tidal wave of nTLDs hit the shoreline. Eventually the glut of copycat .io startups will dispel the notion that .io is edgy or a ticket to success.
Moreover, tech entrepreneurs encounter disproportionately more .io sites in their personal experience than mainstream consumers do; so they’re in for a nasty shock when their intended customers fail to recognize .io or ascribe to it that prophetic power some startup founders imagine .io gives them.
Now that the prices of .io domains are rising due to domainer speculation, the same motivation to think outside the box and save money will steer budget-conscious tech entrepreneurs toward new TLDs. Some new fad (or several) might be born tomorrow. Once 1 Silicon Valley startup receives venture capital funding for a .CLICK or a .LINK or a .BUZZ, then all the other entrepreneurial hacks will hop off .io and jump on board the bandwagon with the newer hubcaps.
Maybe .io will achieve some mainstream recognition, in which case it will continue to sell. But prices will plateau. We may have already overshot that steady-state level.
There’s money to be made from pumping up a bubble before it pops, and the market places, sellers, and .io drop-catchers aren’t missing their chance to make money off the masses of domainers out there who see prices going up and up and up and up.
Lots of opinions. But the 1 opinion everybody ought to ignore is that of the person hyping .io in order to sell it to you.
Nothing against .io. Almost any TLD can be used well. There are a few websites related to programming that I visit myself on occasion. But investors should remember to buy low and sell high. Right now .io is at or near its peak. Be wary.
Thanks Joseph
Sensible opinion Joseph. Difficult to imagine why these intelligent fellows also behave like herd.
Exactly what I was thinking.
I don’t know about you but for me the best way to understand domain valuation is look at it as real estate. When you argue that techies, hackers have neglect the highly priced .coms for the alternative path of .io, because .io names are available for registration fees, I believe you missing ‘something’. First of all, the techies who invest a big chunk of their time in developing and promoting a start up are very brand savvy. Sometimes more from a deeper brand/product identity motivation then perse money driven. But they do appreciate a quality name for the same reason they do appreciate a good UX design/user interface.
Well maybe we aren’t talking about techies here. Is is not false rhetoric when you are writing about ‘techies or hackers’ while a 2015 start up requires a whole bunch of different disciplines to achieve a level of being called a ‘startup’? Everything needs to be top nowadays, performance, mobile, tone of voice and brand. I do think you will agree about the extreme high importance of the domain name.
So if all those people who are investing time in a startup choose for .io then this must have a reason. Several reasons are mentioned on the web:
– input/output
– i and o next to each other on keyboard
– 2 letters
– Trust worthy UK
– recognizable sound e.g rad/io, b/io etc
I wanna add something to this list which is more an artistic intuitive feeling than a solid argument. The existing of so many fine crafted .io startups does influences the reputation of this extension. I don’t know if the market shares my feelings but I would describe them as:
– pure
– craftwork
– friendly
– simple
– mobile proof
– personal, personal, personal
I disagree with your argument, or maybe it is more premise than an argument that .io buyers will seek other alternatives when .io prices will continue to rise. because they don’t need to. There a tons of free good .io names available. Think for example all the 2 word combinations like ‘redsilk’ or ‘grazygoose’ kind of names, or many other slight variants of the short single words. So I believe they will keep this .io thing going. Furthermore I disagree when you state that when the techies are not buying, nobody will. I think that the techies were just the fist to buy them. The single short cool words like: breeze.io or vibe.io or elvis.io are really wonderful brand names who have a strong potential to be recognized by domain insiders and wanted by startups who do have funding. These group of folks are anticipating that .io will go mainstream within a couple of years. The funding in .io websites, the behavior of big companies like Google and Microsoft towards this .io domain, the beautiful .io startups on the horizon seem to justify this anticipation.
The parallel I would draw is when the first artist start living in SoHo NYC, Berlin or Barcelona. The came when it was cheap but great and now the Russian Oligarchs are buying up everything. The artists are moving some blocks further but stay in the city.
And yes of there are people benefiting from the ‘hype’ and trying to manipulate it but this fact is not an argument for being it a bubble. The fact that there are real estate brokers are benefitting from house prices in London is not an argument for a house bubble in London.
There is little awareness of IO outside tech circles.
Here we are more than a year later…and that is STILL the case.
That said, time is ON the side of short and intelligent TLDs. Many of the new TLDS like ‘college’ and ‘guitar’ will undoubtedly die out.
But IO? BZ? VC even? No. As mentioned above, they are short, have associations (tech for IO, business for BZ, and finance/vcapital for VC).
These kind of ccTLD have staying power. That said, I think the adoption rate will continue to be fairly slow. But a decade from now, yes, you will seem a much greater share of io’s vc’s bz’s out there simply because younger generations won’t be as tied to com…and new ideas need new real estate (but not at the cost of nonsensical and wordy TLDs….ninja, mom, top.
That is, of course, unless we move completely to the smart phone app world and ditch TLDs completely!!!
.io is the natural migration path to .com. For example, a startup upgraded from Versus.io to Versus.com at 6-figure price in 2013.
Also, people don’t think about the reliability issue of many repurposed ccTLD such as .sy, .ly, and .io. According to my note, in 2013 .io had a TLD-wide outage because their nameservers went down for 30 minutes. If you are running an important ecommerce on a .io site, how much loss can you afford?
maybe…but remember there is a lot of junk in .com too.
in other words, yes the big successes will migrate to .com….but all those other wannabes won’t be able to and will still be buying and using the .io
that equals TLD awareness through adoption rates. ultimately it may never be a premier TLD but that doesn’t mean it won’t be well accepted and widely used.
You’re really cranking out some quality stuff this week thanks.
If I had any I would sell them a.s.a.p. Can’t see .io battling all the new gTLD’s as the pre .com alternative for startup’s. I often take it as a rule, when things get’s to hyped, it’s time to look elsewhere. It’s is a good time to earn money though if your risk factor is big and you can flip it quick to domainers. Besides looking at startup’s nowadays using the .io is not by any means a rule. The last two startup’s I visited were based on a .ch and a .rocks. While the company that are releasing a new security phone don’t even cared about the .io domain, it’s not even registered.
Thanks for writing about .io!!
I am bearish on .io because i think its being driven by tech startups and domainer speculation(like someone has stated in a previous comment).
I think .io will lose steam very soon, no more than 2 years.
If your going to invest in any of these stick with short one word domains that will work in the tech startup market. Blast.io, Twist.io, Boost.io etc….don’t buy anything other than 1 word domains and make sure they work for startups. Same applies for .Me and .Co
If you stick with this simple rule you should be fine.
There’s far more usage of .io than there are of other TLDs if you actually take a look around. Not global companies. Not global brands. Not startups looking for that big ticket but small users – I’m talking web development houses of between 2-10 employees, for example. These don’t hit your average radar because they’re generally local businesses with a discerning following. Sometimes it’s a simple redirect.
These are not people that are shelling out $10,000s for a name but they are using the .io extension and that means something (even if not to a domainer investor’s bottom line).
Having done my own research, I can see that .io has more names registered than .TV and that means something. You need to understand the market though – .TV works for industry sectors, .io works for some other sectods. Everyone wrote off .co as well but I quite commonly come across .co sites in my travels.
The idea that .com is the only option really is old imho. People tend to confuse global branding with adequate and serviceable names.
I own kashmir.io What do you think the value of this domain is? Considering, India owns Kashmir, Pakistan owns part of Kashmir as well as China. Easily brand able…..
I believe that technology companies large and small (start ups) will continue to be attracted to .io domain extension.
Tech keywords LOOK GREAT on the .io extension.
BitcoinMining.io
CloudMining.io
DigitalWallet.io
DigitalWallets.io
I like the .io TLD, recently picked up 3 of them, Blogger.io , Deejay.io , and Kashmir.io , I gotta agree you have to treat them like real estate.