Jorge, Thank you for taking the time to summarize some of the key marketing messages shared by our core registrar partners. Reviewing your summary, I must say that I see absolutely nothing inappropriate, inaccurate, confusing, misleading or incorrect in the text you have shared. In fact, the marketing messages and branding you found are part of the branding guidelines that WE require registrars to use when marketing second-level .CO domains. Our registry-registrar agreement is quite thorough and strict on aspects related marketing. Fortunately, we have found that our limitation to a small number of registrars allows us to monitor and maintain coherent and consistent marketing messages throughout the channel. Colombia has chosen to market its domain extension as a globally available, open, domain. The text you quote is simply marketing copy -- plain vanilla product promotion. I'm not sure what else there is to say on this matter. If people were not interested or moved by these marketing messages, our domain names would not be selling. This is not the case. People are receptive, because they want more options in branding their online presence and .CO is responding to this need. The reality is that the folks buying .CO domains are not confused children who are being duped by unethical registrars. They are educated consumers and early adopters who took the time to learn about our gradual offering plan and our various launch phases; and who made a concerted effort to invest the time, energy and money to buy one or more .CO domain names in the first few days after our launch. If the product we offer fails to deliver what they want, need or expect -- I am quite confident that they will complain, tweet and blog about us (very loudly) -- and refrain from renewing their domain name(s) next year. We will do everything in our power to ensure this will not be the case. As for why .CO domain names are priced at a premium to .COM, the answer is twofold. First, we wanted to create a disincentive to mass speculation. It is much less likely for a single individual or company to buy thousands of domain names when each name is, for example, $25 USD, instead of $8 USD. And second, the price premium reflects the fact that it is difficult, if not impossible, to directly register a meaningful, memorable name to the left of the dot in .COM. .CO is brand new and the opportunity to claim premium keywords, niche topics, and other business relevant terms to the left of the dot is wide open. I can't say so for certain, but I suspect that as we get closer to having 85 plus million domain names registered in .CO, the price point for domain names will come closer to .COM. We hope we will not have to wait for another 25 years for that day to come! Re statistics, the number of .CO domain names that mirror domains existing in the .COM space -- and the number of domains where the .CO and the .COM have the same or different owners -- is not something we track -- nor is it something we consider to be our concern. On the other hand, we do closely monitor and track registrations by brand owners, and know that by the close of our Sunrise phase close to 11,000 domain names were registered. Of this number 92% of the Deloitte Protected Marks List opted to secure their domain names in the .CO extension, among many thousands more through the Landrush phase. In closing, Jorge, yes, an open dialogue is positive for all. I hope this dialogue, again, has allayed your concerns. Kind regards, Eduardo -----Mensaje original----- De: at-large-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:at-large-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] En nombre de Jorge Amodio Enviado el: miércoles, 04 de agosto de 2010 04:25 a.m. Para: At-Large Worldwide Asunto: Re: [At-Large] .CO user confusion? Dear Eduardo, thank you for taking the time to provide additional information and clarification about the management and operations of the .CO ccTLD, and again I congratulate you and the rest of the team for this new venture. As you may have noticed the original subject of this thread is about if the existence of .CO is somehow creating or not user confusion, not about how bad or good the ccTLD operations are or if its policies are correct or not. Part of the conversation derived into a parallel discussion about the fact that being a ccTLD you are not bound by the same set of rules as others TLDs, then is it fair to have a ccTLD operate as a gTLD ? even if they follow common or similar globally accepted rules/practices ?
Then if it is no longer used and promoted as the domain designated for Colombia (given that the Colombian government is not even listed as sponsoring organization), there is no sovereignty claims that apply and the name should be considered as a gTLD.
.CO is and will continue to used and promoted as the domain designated for Colombia, by Colombia, and made available to the entire world. This is the choice that has been made by the government of the sovereign nation state of the Republic of Colombia.
Unfortunately this is not entirely true, only two of your registrars listed in your site make a mention to Colombia on the most visible pages promoting .CO, here is what they say: 1and1 says: ".CO is a new global domain extension available to every person and every company worldwide. So for the first time in many years, .CO will provide a significant new opportunity to register a truly global, recognizable and credible domain name extension. Dont be left out. Weve seen what happened with the saturation of .COM. Due to its meaningful and universal appeal, .CO has the potential to become just as popular." dotster says: "Universally recognized as an abbreviation for company, corporation, commerce, and collaboration, .CO domain names are memorable and short. Dont settle for a long domain name register a .CO!" enom says: ".CO is the new domain extension that offers people and companies more choice in branding their online presence with a truly global, recognizable, and credible domain name. It's the online space where people can fulfill their dreams and the worlds next great enterprises will have a home." Go Daddy says: Understood around the world as an abbreviation for Company, Corporation and Commerce, .CO is easy to recognize, simple to remember and flexible to use. It offers international recognition in a fresh landscape where you can still choose the name you want, not just settle for whats available. interNetX says: ".CO is the new domain extension that offers people and companies a truly global, recognizable and credible domain name. InterNetX - one of the largest providers of first-class domain products - has been chosen at the start of the .CO launch to be the only European registrar among ten selected providers worldwide to introduce the promising TLD .CO. Grab the opportunity and start registering these lucrative .CO domains!" Melbourne IT says: ".CO is the country-coded top level domain (ccTLD) for the country of Colombia, and is now available for pre-registration. .CO is uniquely recognisable, simple, and memorable, offering a good alternative to current global domains. Universally understood to mean company, corporation, and commerce. With over 83 million .com domain names currently registered it is getting harder and harder to get the domain that you want. .CO can help you get that global domain you want, and help you build your global brand. Due to the similarity to .COM, .CO is a good opportunity to protect your existing domain investments from potential cybersquatters." register.com says: "Don't hesitate names are going fast! Here are some of the unique benefits of a .CO name: Only $40 for a one year term and discounts on longer term lengths. .CO is universally recognized as an abbreviation for company. .CO registry is wide open, with almost all names still available for purchase." My.CO says: "My.CO is an independent service, not provided by the Registry itself. The initiative is run by well-renowned industry key players that will strive to bring you into the .CO era. Our only deal is .CO. We have participated in the whole delegation process and have been structuring our services for more than two years. The initiative is part of the business development of Central Comercializadora de Internet, a Colombian company devoted to the success of the .CO CCTLD." Network Solutions says: "Find the domain name you're looking for when you use the newest domain extension. With a .CO domain name you will have more choices in branding your online presence with a truly global, recognizable and credible option for a Web address. With a .CO, the possibilities are endless and new opportunities arise. Associated with the words "COmpany," "COrporation" and "COmmerce," it's the perfect platform for today's socially networked individuals and entrepreneurs to create .COmmunities, share .COntent, and to .COnnect, .COmmunicate and .COllaborate online." I understand your reasoning and marketing approach about .CO being new, but I still disagree given that for the end users it is one of the sources of confusion, it gets more exacerbated when some people refer to it as the "new dotCOM".
· Pay, on average, half the price that registering a .CO domain name previously cost them prior to the transition;
· Shop around to find competitive prices, promotions and offers from the worlds leading domain registrars and resellers; and
Would you care to explain why domains under .CO have a pricing structure about 3 to 4 times more expensive than .COM ?
I hope these facts help to clarify the current situation.
Absolutely, even if there may be some disagreement or different points of view, every time that there is dialog and exchange of opinions and ideas we are making progress, it is a great deal to have you here and share with the rest of the community this information and points of view, it will also serve as a case example on how to establish an open dialog to improve relationships between different stakeholder groups and ccTLD managers.
In the short time since the transition to .CO Internet has taken place, upward of 380,000 domain names have been registered by individuals and entities.
Would you care to provide more detailed statistics about how many of them are new names non-existent in the .COM space or registered by a different registrant from the same name under .COM, how many of them have been registered or reserved for brand protection, and how many of them are clearly from domain investors or speculators ? Last but not least, why you don't have a WHOIS server ? Thanks again for taking the time to be part of this dialog. Regards Jorge _______________________________________________ At-Large mailing list At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large_atlarge-lists.icann .org At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org