Is .uk going to replace .co.uk domain names?

[livefast]

Sorry if this has been covered. Recently heard this could be a possibility in the future. I've asked nominet but they have been quite vague. Just wondering if any of you guys know anything or have any thoughts. Is it safer now to avoid using .co.uk for a start up until more is known? Thanks.

 

[imadam]

nothing will replace anything, only add to it is my view. people will still most likely google any way the business they want and never realise if it's .com/.co.uk/.uk.

only time will be on printed material (they still sometimes google) and will customers care, no.

imo the only time they may care is if you have a weird one like website.ltd.me.org. more then one externsion looks like spam/virus website addressees to me

 

[astutiumRob]

I've asked nominet but they have been quite vague

Same as last time they announced it ...

.UK is an ill-though-out unwanted money-grab primarily as a knee jerk reaction to the "dilution" of TLD Namespaces from the impending 1500 new tlds, combined with the lack of control over the existing second level of .uk (a legacy from the original setup of Nominet, where accurate validation of registrants wasn't specified properly)

Most registrars will be voting it down again, same as last time.

 

[Deleted member 61074]

With the move now towards new extensions such as .pizza, .food and so on, and New York talking about having .nyc etc i think the future of domains being far less hung up on fighting over .co.uk and com

Choose your extension and prefix quite carefully and you might only need the one name.

Eg dominospizza.co.uk will become dominos.pizza

 

[amac]

When you think about the marketing dollars behind .com, .co.uk etc, it's unlikely any of the new domain name extensions e.g .nyc etc are ever going to replace them.

That said, the app economy and mobile could/arguably is already changing the way we access content.

 

[thelegalstop]

The domain industry will grow, but it does not mean that domains, such as .com and .co.uk are not worth buying now.

 

[Deleted member 61074]

When you think about the marketing dollars behind .com, .co.uk etc, it's unlikely any of the new domain name extensions e.g .nyc etc are ever going to replace them.

That said, the app economy and mobile could/arguably is already changing the way we access content.

Not sure i totally agree with this. The whole idea of .nyc for example is to promote local seaches. So a tld of plumber.liverpool is going to be far more valuable and useful to a plumber in liverpool than plumber.co.uk

To me increasing the extensions can only be good and will result in more friendly urls

 

[PDC]

If people in general have a domain they want to remember then .com and .co.uk are the two that most people I come in to contact with either remember or understand.

As for finding websites, well that all depends on the website and business itself and how easy to find it is. If you type the name into Google or facebook does the business come up? and so on.

For now .uk is going to fit in with all the other prefixes that people use when they can't get the .co.uk or .com they need. It will be interesting in the future to see if item and location specific domains become weighted in searches. Its certainly a medium distance possibility.

 

[fisicx]

Not sure i totally agree with this. The whole idea of .nyc for example is to promote local seaches. So a tld of plumber.liverpool is going to be far more valuable and useful to a plumber in liverpool than plumber.co.uk

To me increasing the extensions can only be good and will result in more friendly urls

Have you seen how many TLD there are going to be? 4000+ at the last count. It won't just be .liverpool it will be .scouser .merseyside .birkenhead .liverpudlian .likelylads and so on. Plus the .plumber .plumbing .water .heating .tradesman .handyman...

It's going to be a complete mess and the good old .co.uk will still be there ranking the same place it always was.

 

[cucumber]

Is the .uk thing definitely going to happen? Any info on when they'll be available? It's a bugger to do a search for in Google to find out.

 

[fisicx]

Is the .uk thing definitely going to happen? Any info on when they'll be available? It's a bugger to do a search for in Google to find out.

Nominet are doing loads of consultation. I'm part of it, all I had to do was express an interest and complete a survey. Now getting loads of info about it.

 

[Deleted member 61074]

Have you seen how many TLD there are going to be? 4000+ at the last count. It won't just be .liverpool it will be .scouser .merseyside .birkenhead .liverpudlian .likelylads and so on. Plus the .plumber .plumbing .water .heating .tradesman .handyman...

It's going to be a complete mess and the good old .co.uk will still be there ranking the same place it always was.

Yes i suspect you are correct here, as with all things the tlds and urls with the biggest marketing budget will rise to the top to become household names etc

 

[splashweb]

I can't see many of the new TLD's making a go of it in the long run. They won't have the monopolistic benefit that the likes of Nominet have enjoyed, or the momentum of an existing registry of 10m addresses. It makes me wonder what pricing level some of these very specific suffixes are going to be at in order to survive.

If my chosen suffix doesn't survive a lot of my hard work goes down the drain and I have to find a new address; probably now wishing I'd stuck with .uk or possibly .com.

I've written an article on this but can't post the link unfortunately.

 

[Aminto]

I know this is an old discussion, but for anyone waiting to find out if the .uk domain name's going to go live or not, it did go live a couple of days ago and if you already own the .co.uk then there's a 5 year waiting list before anyone else can buy the .uk with the same name.

 

[ThePublisher]

Thanks for that info. I'll delay buying mine for a while and save myself some money!