.cn vs .com in China

[RazorNF]

To those familiar with internet use in China,

What is the level of popularity between .com domains vs .cn domains?

For example, I know in Canada, sometimes people will mistakenly type .com by habit, for a .ca site.

Being outside of China, the costs of .cn's for me can start adding up, so if I find a decent .com IDN, and the .cn, is available, should I spend the extra $ and get it too?

[duskdawn]

.cn is roaring in China.

http://www.ce.gov.cn/Content.aspx?Bid=172

The .cn users are 110M while .com is 120M in China and within this year of 2006, Chinese .cn users will surpass Chinese .com users.
But I have a negative view for foreigners registering .cn. It about 30 US$ while in China we can register for only $5-6 per year.
My suggestion is:
Unless it is very premium or related to Chinese market, think twice before you register .cn.

[Banned: Preoccupy]

.com

[scottle]

What industries do you consider premium? I own .cn in education, jewelry and business. Not many maybe 10 in total.

[yuming]

Of course,.com is better.I'm in China.

[RazorNF]

Thanks for the info... what about .net? How frequently are these used? If someone wanted to start a site with a .com and it was taken, will they opt for .cn or .net next?

[lyndonmaxewell]

I note to my surprise that sometimes some chinese IDN .net are taken, but not the .com as well. however, thats a minor observation for some names.

I would definitely go for .cn in additional if the keyword is 'premium'.

[duskdawn]

Thanks for the info... what about .net? How frequently are these used? If someone wanted to start a site with a .com and it was taken, will they opt for .cn or .net next?

Before .cn is fully accessable, .net is always the choice. But recently people tend to choose .cn but you can still see a lot of .net sites.
I think the future in China is shared between .com and .cn.

I note to my surprise that sometimes some chinese IDN .net are taken, but not the .com as well. however, thats a minor observation for some names.

This might be due to the block of some idn.com while either the simplified or traditional set is already taken. Or they just simply deny registration for some premium IDN.com. If you try to register them, you might find it cannot be registered.
But sometimes you are lucky, who knows