25 years after the launch of .COM, there are more than 90 million domain names registered in the .COM extension. The .com domain space is crowded and choosing a recognizable, short domain name can be very difficult. For example, how do you think the name Yipit was born? Jim Moran, founder of the online e-coupon aggregator Yipit, said "In choosing a company name, we ran a search for 5-letter domain names ending in "it" and chose Yipit, because it was the only one that sounded like a verb."
Finally a new domain name competitor, fit for companies, corporations and all other forms of commerce, the extension ".CO," has entered the market. CO Internet S.A.S. launched this week on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 in a "landrush event."
"The launch of the .CO domain represents the next phase in the growth and development of the Internet," said Juan Diego Calle, CEO of .CO Internet. "The .CO domain will create new opportunities in global commerce, content development, social media and other forms of interactivity, which will enrich the overall Internet experience for everyone."
In launching the .CO domain, .CO Internet S.A.S. gave first priority registration rights to trademark holders -- including well known brands like Amazon, American Express, Apple, IBM, Coca-Cola, CNN, MTV, Nike, Nestle, Ford, Nokia, Panasonic, Yahoo, Gucci, etc. The company reported that Overstock paid $350,000 for O.CO. "It's... well worth the investment because it reinforces among consumers that 'O' is synonymous with 'Overstock,'" says Overstock.com Chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne. Twitter bought up 't.co' and plans to use the site as a service platform to safeguard users from viruses and enrich the developer ecosystem. See a current list of the other .CO early adopters here at www.Opportunity.co.
By the end of the "sunrise phase" for big brands, .CO Internet S.A.S. had already registered about 11,000 domain names. Since opening their "landrush phase" this week, start-ups, entrepreneurs, small to large sized businesses will now have equal access to register .CO domain names. However, .CO Internet has withheld approximately 2,000 premium generic domains, e.g. car.co, adoption.com, insure.co, from this week's landrush, that they will auction off in the next year to help promote and maintain the .CO domain. .CO Internet sells domain names through a global network of "Registrars" who distribute domain names to consumers. To buy a .CO domain name, visit registrars like GoDaddy, Register.com, Melbourne IT and Network Solutions. Prices start at $20 and vary from registrar to registrar just as they do with other domain name extensions.
"When a good domain name extension like .CO comes to market, you see how strong the Internet really is and how powerful its growth is going to be for years to come," said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "Let's face it, domain names are 21st century real estate."
Expect .CO rivals over the next few years as we're likely to see more and more dot "who's," "this's" and dot "that's" popping up.