Will the launch of .DEV impact the value of .IO domain names?

dot-dev-domain-names

Well it’s official, .DEV is here, and since the new registry is being run by Google, it’s safe to say there’s a nice marketing budget behind it. I personally think .DEV is a pretty solid extension for developers or anything dev-related and being three characters it’s short and very easy to remember.

Before I go any further let me just say that like most new gTLDs, I don’t think .DEV is a great buy for domain investors. While I might pick up a few myself I expect to sell 0% of what I buy. For any new domain investors out there who think they could make a fortune by buying up .DEV domains and reselling them, I think you’ll end up losing a lot of money.

Okay, with that said, now onto the subject of this post – will .DEV impact the value of .IO domain names?

.IO has seen strong growth over the last few years, and a lot of that growth as come from its use as a domain extension for developers and products that deliver via an API. There are tons of examples of venture-backed companies that built their brand and raised tens of millions of dollars on a .IO domain name.

Now the question is, for a company that was going to buy a .IO domain will they now look at a .DEV instead? If they do, does this mean .IO domains will have to sell for less in order to stay competitive?

Here’s my take.

First, I think that .DEV will chip away at a segment of the .IO market. For example, if you’re a developer at Google named Shmoogle and you want to put up a personal site with a link to your Github repo and a bit more about you as a developer, you might have had your heart set on Shmoogle.io, now you might actually prefer Shmoogle.dev.

On the flip side, if you’re a company like Keen, which raised $29M, and is a developer-focused solution delivered as an API, the .IO probably makes more sense.

So will this impact the value of .IO domains? I don’t think it will overall but it could in some cases where someone is relatively agnostic and interested in either in which case usually the lowest price wins. There really hasn’t been another extension associated with developers since .IO hit the market so this is the first time we’ll see a direct competitor. Of course, my crystal ball is probably just as good as yours so only time will tell.

What do you think? Comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton