|
Before
ICANN
launched its new gTLD
program, re-purposed ccTLDs
like Colombia's .CO and Montenegro's
.ME managed to remodel
themselves from country code domains
into globally available extensions
that were re-positioned with new
meanings (.CO primarily for company
and .ME for clever corporate
branding branding as well as personal
sites).
.CO
and .ME weren't the first to go down
that road (.CC, .WS
and .TV were among those that
did it years earlier) but they have
been among the most successful to
make
|
|
|
the
transition. They realized that credible
live websites on their domains
were critical to gaining widespread
recognition on the web which in turn
would spur more registrations and
further development. Both launched
with programs to encourage
development by awarding premium
reserved domains to those who
submitted the most impressive
business/development plans for a
specific domain. |
The
.ME
Registry just announced one of
their biggest wins to date on that front
with the operators of Hide.io, a
privacy-focused VPN service with more
than 350,000 users across the globe,
agreeing to rebrand on the domain Hide.me,
a move made in conjunction with the
company's new user interface design and
enhanced features. Customers use Hide.me
to encrypt and anonymize their Internet
activity - so the name is obviously a perfect
match for the business. Predrag
Lesic, the CEO of the ME Registry,
said, “We are very pleased that hide.io
has chosen to rebrand as hide.me with a
.ME premium domain. This is an incredibly
personal service and when their
application came in to the Premium
Domain Program we knew that
their service was a perfect fit for
the domain. Awarding hide.me to them was a
very easy choice.”
|
|
|
A
spokesman for Hide.me added, "Our
service is very personal and when we
began our rebranding efforts, we
knew we needed a domain that would
reflect our mission. We couldn’t
get more personal than .ME
to let our users to know that our
service is for and about |
|
them.
We believe in the Internet's
founding vision—to let people
explore information from around the
world in a free, decentralized way.
Rebranding with a .ME domain helps
us to articulate our vision in the
URL.” |
The hundreds of new gTLDs now coming
online are trying to clear new land on the
Internet and are employing a variety of
ways to establish settlements that will
take root. For some the business model
seems to be stick high prices on the
merchandise, open the doors and hope
buyers magically appear. Some of their
predecessors have already been down the
road they are traveling now. Many of those
never got their head above water so it
would make sense to look at the tactics
used by the few that have not only
survived but thrived - so much so that the
.CO Registry was able to get itself
acquired
for a cool $109 million last month.
You know the old saying - "those who
ignore history are doomed to repeat
it."
|
