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Direct AU Implementation

chris

Top Contributor
With the recent discussions on direct au registrations, as many others have said, implementation is going to be critical.

As someone that has invested in au domain names and advised clients to do the same, I've always believed in .com.au for Australian businesses. It has long been the premium commercial .au extension, the industry has also marketed it as such.

I know there are some net.au (or other) owners that will want the equivalent .au, but in my opinion, if .com.au owners have preference it will cover the vast majority of businesses that have invested in premium au names. To clarify, I know there are people that have invested in .net.au's and a few popular sites that use .net.au, but they are the exception. I'm happy to be corrected on this, but we can see the reported sales, and we all know that common examples of abc and whirlpool use .net.au.

There are a few questions I have that I'm keen on everyone's thoughts.

1) Will .au become the premium extension?

I think it's hard to say, but in a world of .anything, eventually anything other than domains with a single dot may look weird. It might not be happening yet, but it could. Personally, I wouldn't mind switching to dntrade.au. I'm not sure others think the same, but I know of at least a few people that have said they would too when chatting to website owners.

We had a discussion at a recent event where people were questioning if direct .au's will be the "better" extension. I don't know the answer to this, but interested in what others think?

2) Will this change strengthen or weaken the .au namespace?

As others have stated in the past few days, implementation is going to be critical. Australia has been lucky in that we've had a very strong local namespace.

In recent years we've seen browsers that don't display URLs and domains, Search Engine Results Pages being tested that hide domains, voice search, social, apps, and that's not even talking about all of the new extensions coming on the market. These are already impacting on the namespace and direct navigation in general.

I think the potential for consumer confusion if the .com.au holders aren't given preference will negatively impact on the uptake of direct .au.

Apart from the UK and NZ, what other models do people know of that have been rolled out, and what were the pros and cons?

That's just my 2c worth, interested to hear what people think.
 

Shane

Top Contributor
Well written post Chris.

I think .au will eventually become the premium extension, but I think it will take a long time. Like 10+ years... It depends how quickly the big household names start using .au in their marketing.

auDA will presumably be in a fairly healthy financial state, so perhaps they'll spearhead a public campaign and convince a couple of big boys to start using .au?

Your point about domains with anything other than a single dot is a good one and not one that I'd thought about before. It probably won't be such an issue in Australia for a very long time since we are so used to two dots.

I will be switching my sites to .au. Maybe just one to start with, but eventually I'd envisage switching them all.

In terms of the other markets, if any market was going to take it up more quickly you'd think it would be the UK since a lot of their neighbours in Europe have used direct registrations since the beginning. It doesn't sound like the take-up over there is great though, so that just reinforces my view that it will take a long time for it to catch on over here.

But despite the fact that it might take 10 to 15 years for .au to really take over, you need to start at some point right? And if Australia ends up being the only country with a .com stuck between name and the country code, we're going to look a little backwards to other countries.

It's all about the implementation now and ensuring that the new domains go to their rightful owners, which are of course the incumbent .com.au owners.
 

petermeadit

Top Contributor
Hi @chris I would also prefer that nothing changed in a system that already works well. However things do change and will change. I feel it's important to reconise existing .com.au domain registrants and if .net.au then lenth of ownership. Also .gov.au .edu.au .id.au etç need a plan since direct registration levels everything out.
 

snoopy

Top Contributor
1) Will .au become the premium extension?

I don't think so, I think best case scenario is a split down the middle like India and China. But those countries have a lot of competition from .com also, I think that is partly because there is no standard extension in those countries.

2) Will this change strengthen or weaken the .au namespace?

Weaken. The main question is by "how much". Main beneficiary will be .com in my view, especially if .au gets popular. If .au got popular then you've got a confusing scenario is like India and China. Lots of companies will never change so I don't think there is much chance of a "mainly .au" world.

In my view the best course of action people can take is reduce investment in the local namespace.
 

Data Glasses

Top Contributor
Any idea when this space will become available to register ??
~
I am happy to agree that one day it may become number one, but with all the ads for com.au on the radio and television it's gonna take a long time ....imo
 

findtim

Top Contributor
the change from imperial to metric is a good one, i was doing some building today and saw i had a new packet of 1/16th screws from bunnings, photographers still call an A4 image a 10x8, and the old people still talk miles and inches.
this is a good thread idea, so many variables.
lets not however get us down to a point where we are just concerned about allocation and not the cost, a few mention they'd change to .au which basically says " ok, you got me, i'll pay the money and shut up "
here's a few of my ideas.
- give it to me, no fees and i won't complain as i wouldn't buy it if i wasn't being pushed to.
- trade me in ! i'll hand back my .com.au and start paying for the .au, the .com.au then gets "destroyed" never to be used. just like the gun buy-back without the expense for anyone, as its only a defensive registration for me and everyone else and if you consider its not then just ask shane if you can have nuts.au
in the case where they give you 5 years to purchase, just give me both for the 5 years for "changeover" expenses like business cards, brochures etc
------- or do we start putting on business cards the yourname.au as "coming soon" ??
- net.au + others, well NZ's disputed .nz rules seem ok, but admits a major flaw in the concept in that when/if .au is dominant then some people will be stuck with what is considered an OLD domain name, kinda like owning a VCR !
- . net.au, what about .aun ? ( wasn't there a .aunz.com ? ) http://www.abby.aunz.com/
In my view the best course of action people can take is reduce investment in the local namespace.
i agree with this,
incumbent .com.au owners.
---- well who is this incumbant really? the first com.au or net.au to register?
---- does picking it up on drops restart the date? if so and the date restarts this could kill the drop market in the lead up and short future.
---- will date restart take into account COR'd domains as well?

auDA will presumably be in a fairly healthy financial state, so perhaps they'll spearhead a public campaign and convince a couple of big boys to start using .au?
probably, but should auda be independant still ? they say they are still going through public consultation, i wonder how long it will be before i get any kind of notification that allows me to ask questions or will it be emails TELLING me what they have decided?

tim
 

chris

Top Contributor
Any idea when this space will become available to register ??
~
I am happy to agree that one day it may become number one, but with all the ads for com.au on the radio and television it's gonna take a long time ....imo

I'd guess it will still be many years away @HireDomains -- anyone know if timeframes have been discussed?
 
As I said in a few other posts the most productive use of time is for DNT Members to come up with an implementation model that that could be submitted to the .au implementation panel / committee.
What do people think of:
.uk implementation - here is a great FAQ from Nominet
.nz implementation - here is a great FAQ from the Domain Name Commission of NZ

As I mentioned, everyone I talk to favours the .uk model.
 

findtim

Top Contributor
but of course we have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, its normally now where organisitionshire leaders in th eimplementation of those uk/nz systems to get together and let us know what the pitfalls were and how they solved them, as well as " if i could do it all again.............."

for me its not uk or nz, its .au
thanks for the links CML , just part of many things to read to be informed.
tim
 
but of course we have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, its normally now where organisitionshire leaders in th eimplementation of those uk/nz systems to get together and let us know what the pitfalls were and how they solved them, as well as " if i could do it all again.............."

for me its not uk or nz, its .au
thanks for the links CML , just part of many things to read to be informed.
tim
Tim you are right, who knows the perfect model maybe neither .uk or .nz, but I just put it out there for people to discuss and share thoughts
 
There you have it the supply siders recommend the UK model.

Nothing bout net.
Actually Bacon Farmer, I have spoken primarily to domainers, so they are the ones telling me .uk is their preference, ie. com.au has priority. In fact this feedback came from 2 people who are in the top 20 portfolio holders in Australia (1 of which is in the top 5). Out of interest, there is only 1 domainer in the top 5 portfolio holders in .au...
 

Horshack

Top Contributor
The .uk model doesn't suit because they didn't have an equivalent .net.au category which sat on equal terms to .co.uk and they've allowed too long for registrants to take up the option of the shorter domain so they are taking far too long to gain traction. Although the .nz model is better there is the risk of a mexican standoff between .net.au/.com.au holders on more popular domains as we have seen in the .nz space where some domains still remain conflicted so the shorter version is never registered which weakens the new domain space. In the end the best option may be to auction conflicted names between conflicted .com.au/.net.au registrants. If people see value in the new shorter domains surely they will be prepared to pay for them.
 

Bacon Farmer

Top Contributor
I bet their first preference was no direct registrations and therefore no defensive registrations required.

The second point I'd make is that biggest number of stake holders don't seem to figure in the supply sides equation except as the patsy to pay defensive registration fees.

How about telling us how many small business people are in favour of the UK model?
 

findtim

Top Contributor
If people see value in the new shorter domains surely they will be prepared to pay for them.
So lets all go out and register .net.au's ????
cybersquatting short version " i own the net, i'll bid against you or you can buy me out first "
The .uk model doesn't suit because they didn't have an equivalent .net.au category which sat on equal terms to .co.uk
yes, this is a big issue for .au
they've allowed too long for registrants to take up the option of the shorter domain so they are taking far too long to gain traction
if it was going to get traction it would organically, i say do longer years so it proves itself BY ITSELF and either survives or dies, thats when you will get a TRUE indication of take up because you remove defensive registrations for a very long time, i say 10 years, perfect solution, auda say people want it? well no model has been suggested where someone can just walk up day one and grab a domain thats registered to a .com.au'r so those who say they want it can already rego a .com.au.
This would just then leave us with good stats on pure .au rego over an unregistered .com.au domain.
by jove watson i think i have found the answer !!!

tim
 

Horshack

Top Contributor
Nah it's too late to squat now you would assume that they would back date the eligible registration time like they did in NZ. I'm surprised people are still buying on the drops?? I think the 5 years that they gave in the UK was way too long. When that period ends and people can no longer sit on their hands the registration numbers will sky rocket and .co.uk will be left in the dust. Although I'm not a fan I think that moving to the shorter .au now may avoid bigger dramas later when the number of registrants affected by the change could be much larger making the change more difficult and more of an inconvenience.
 

findtim

Top Contributor
SKYROCKET: what? with people registering domains with unregistered .com.au's ? NO, with people NOW doing defensive rego's.
thats a very poor argument for implementation.
--------
no doubt as part of the 5 year plan is a price once finalised then every year after that up to 5 years an increase in price to once again FORCE rego's sooner.
and you won't see massive growth in .au visually on google, these defensives will just be parked.

non payment by existing .com.au holders is the only FAIR way to implement.

if they trust their decision then put your money where your mouth is IMO

tim
 

johno69

Top Contributor
The only real direct .au's I would want I only have .net.au and .id.au for. I will sit quietly with interest at how it goes down.
 

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