.com Goes Global – Big News for IDN Investors!

Yesterday IDNBlog.com broke the news that VeriSign has just submitted a request to GNSO for “multiple IDN version of .com and .net…”

So what the heck does this mean and why is it a big deal?

This means that in Russia, owning a .com doesn’t mean owning a .com, instead it means owning a .kom (using the Russian Alphabet). In Israel owning a .com also doesn’t mean owning a .com, it means owning the .קום. That’s right folks .com is going global!

Now I can already predict the backlash I’ll get from this post – I’m expecting the #1 critique here to be, “But .com already is a global TLD.”

I don’t believe this is true. In Australia .com.au is king, in Germany .de is King. Yes – this means that if you go to Australia you’ll see more businesses using .com.au for their brand rather than .com! .com has developed mostly as a US-centric TLD and there is no question it is the leader in the US.

Now that other countries will have their own IDN version of .com I think that .com (as it stands right now) remains the dominant TLD in the US…but globally I think we’ll see a shift towards the IDN version of .com.

Just think – if you’re in Russia and you are using your keyboard in Russian (makes sense right?) wouldn’t you just want to type .kom (in Russian) rather than going to the system settings and changing back to English just so you can type .com?

The entire concept of IDN.IDN changes the game, and now that it looks like .com is really going global I think there is a new opportunity for investors, just like the opportunity that existed for the first .com investors back in the 90’s. That’s right – we’re still in the wild wild west and I wouldn’t be surprised if ten years from now people are saying, “I wish I was able to buy .com’s when they went global.”

Now I’m opening myself up to a backlash from .com owners and I welcome all opinions. Be as harsh as you want, insult me, go nuts – on my blog I want everyone to feel totally open to express their opinions. What I’m writing about here is my own opinion, there is no right or wrong here, but when I see an opportunity like this – I can’t help but share my enthusiasm with all of you.

So comment, share your opinion, and let your voice be heard!

Extra-special thanks to IDNBlog.com for breaking this story – you can read the entire story here – The Gold Rush Has Begun: GNSO Formally Requests IDN Unlocking of .Com

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton