The age of Internet domain name real estate has finally arrived. Will you be the next I.T. billionaire?
By: Ringo Bones
There’s a new domain name in our “Internet Town”, its called dot Asia (.asia). One of the latest lines of domain names named after an actual geographic location. It looks like we used up all of those little Pacific Island nations as a source of domain names.
Interested customers to the auction have 6 months to register, so register as soon as humanly possible because these things go out fast. Registration for “dot asia” has opened on: Tuesday October 9, 2007. Protection wanted from cyber-squatters?
Back in August 9, 1995, nobody knew that the dot com boom that started then will eventually go bust five years later. Now, Internet entrepreneurs are more wary on the promise of easy money. Even experienced Internet domain name developers are forever mindful that their “South Sea” domains like Tuvalu’s dot tv and Tokelau’s dot tk might mimic the “South Sea Bubble Burst of 1720”.
To me, the IT / Internet / computer industry – after recovering from the dot com bust of 2000 - has done so much good to those fresh out of college looking for gainful employment, especially those living in the impoverished parts of the world. The industry could essentially fulfil the promise of the Clinton Global Initiative of keeping every batch of fresh graduates securely employed by creating new jobs – like domain name developers – every 5 to 8 years. If all goes well, this mission would be a piece of cake for the industry.
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4 comments:
Ah, the South Sea Company, the Halliburton of its day. Aren't Domain Name investments shaky because they are like mortgage backed securities and credit derinaatives - i.e. they are not concrete assets and could inadvertently worsen our current economic turmoil. Would gold and related precious metals be a better investment?
PS Credit Derivatives. Broken Keyboard.
These really are scary times for the novice investor. Especially when offered with options that are "too good to be true" or are equivalent of "financial vaporware" like mortgage backed securities and credit derivatives. Aren't derivatives of derivatives equal to zero as often taught in college calculus 101? It could be tragic if the domain name branch of e-commerce feel the pinch of the current global economic turmoil because most of them are used to fund various charitable and humanitarian organizations. While gold now once again becomes the safe-haven investment of choice for those of us optimistic enough to ride through this financial storm.
Isn't the term "South Seas" back in the first half of the 1700 used to denote the Atlantic side of the South American coast which later included the Pacific facing coastal regions and the surrounding waters? The South Pacific region which is often colloquially refered to as the South Seas was still virtually unknown during the South Sea Bubble incident of 1720. I do agree that it can be called to as the Halliburton of it's day because it is an attempt at war profiteering of the competing "superpowers" of the day namely the British Empire and the Spanish Empire.
In my opinion, domain names should be classified under the service category because domain names don't develop by themselves without human intervention. But as to the issue whether "Digital Pieces of Dirt" - like domain names are often refered to - pass muster as concrete assets is very very dependent on the health and well being of our modern credit-based economy. Despite the misfortune of basic calculus seeing derivatives of derivatives always coming up "constantly zero". Will the issue of credit derivatives and mortgage backed securities forever change capitalism as we know it once the more stringent regulations come on line? Too bad because domain names like Tuvalu's "dot tv" / .tv domain name is a source of funding to mitigate the negative effects of sea level rise on the tiny South Pacific nation of Tuvalu.
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