2004: It Was a Very Good Year - But Now What? New DNJournal Cover Story

[Duke]

The January Cover Story is out at www.DNJournal.com and I think you will find it to be very interesting. I contacted 20 key industry leaders (company CEO's, top attorneys and major domain portfolio owners) to get their take on the most important events and trends of 2004 and what those might lead to in 2005. This is the most in-depth piece I have run to date. Fortunately the weekend is coming up so you can take your time with it.

One of the lengthiest and most interesting passages features former Pool CEO Michael Arrington who took that company from startup to a dominant #1 position in the expiring names sector in just 12 months. He then left to work on the private ventues he is currently busy with. Michael, who is also an attorney and the author of a book on IPO's (a real book - not an ebook), has a history of successful startups and I think you will find his comments on the industry to be fascinating.

DNForum owner Adam Dicker was also among those contributing insightful comments. Though it is the longest piece I have published it was also one of the easiest to write. All I had to do was contact these guys, sit back and let them rip!

 

[JMJ]

Great article Duke!

 

[mark]

Excellent Article! Many interesting viewpoints, most of which are encouraging for 2005 and beyond.

 

[mole]

While I agree that Internet usage is on the rise, all the rest except Zouzas played down the fact that the domain structure is also rapidly expanding in line with this.

Value is a function of its scarcity, and that scarcity, is no longer limited to old world namespace as ICANN and its constituents pump out more and more new 2LD ccTLDs, sTLDs, zTLDs and gTLDs in the coming 3 years to feed rising adoption. Confusion? Pah, people just want to cling onto their comfort blankets.

Perceptions of value is a function of what's familiar, and not necessary what's effective and relevant. Businesses today are embracing changing mindsets in a much more open manner than ever before.

I find the so-called "industry leaders" still like to cling to traditional models to project future opinion on what is one of the most perplexing phenomenons the world has ever experienced. The motivator behind this knotted thinking is simply self-preservation into invested interests.

Revolution is nine-tenths evolution. In the brief history of the World Wide Web, the reverse holds true. The Internet destroys in order to build.

 

[darrenl]

Thanks for the read Duke, it was real interesting. Now on to 2005! :~D

 

[Duke]

While I agree that Internet usage is on the rise, all the rest except Zouzas played down the fact that the domain structure is also rapidly expanding in line with this.

Value is a function of its scarcity, and that scarcity, is no longer limited to old world namespace as ICANN and its constituents pump out more and more new 2LD ccTLDs, sTLDs, zTLDs and gTLDs in the coming 3 years to feed rising adoption. Confusion? Pah, people just want to cling onto their comfort blankets.

Perceptions of value is a function of what's familiar, and not necessary what's effective and relevant. Businesses today are embracing changing mindsets in a much more open manner than ever before.

I find the so-called "industry leaders" still like to cling to traditional models to project future opinion on what is one of the most perplexing phenomenons the world has ever experienced. The motivator behind this knotted thinking is simply self-preservation into invested interests.

Revolution is nine-tenths evolution. In the brief history of the World Wide Web, the reverse holds true. The Internet destroys in order to build.

A thought provoking post Mole. In reading other reaction to the article around the web I saw that several remarked about how it was interesting that so many saw the future unfolding in the same way. That's not necessarily a good thing. There have been so many instances in a variety of fields where the prevailing wisdom turned out to be dead wrong and just a handful of contrarians proved to be right. It's one reason that as an investor I play almost every possible angle in the domain market. Considering the stunning rate of change in this industry, putting all of your eggs in one basket could certainly prove to be fatal. How many times in any field has the future played out exactly as everyone predicted?

 

[gogeorge]

A thought provoking post Mole. In reading other reaction to the article around the web I saw that several remarked about how it was interesting that so many saw the future unfolding in the same way. That's not necessarily a good thing. There have been so many instances in a variety of fields where the prevailing wisdom turned out to be dead wrong and just a handful of contrarians proved to be right. It's one reason that as an investor I play almost every possible angle in the domain market. Considering the stunning rate of change in this industry, putting all of your eggs in one basket could certainly prove to be fatal. How many times in any field has the future played out exactly as everyone predicted?

I certainly do worring about too many names on the market. It seems like there are ten times as many sellers as buyers. However, because hosting prices are dropping more and more small businesses will get on the internet.

I see fiirst rate names getting harder to get, but many second rate names are flooding the domain name market.

 

[BG]

an informative and well put together article - Job well done Duke.

Barry

 

[Rico]

very nice read indeed =)

 

[chatcher]

...I find the so-called "industry leaders" still like to cling to traditional models to project future opinion on what is one of the most perplexing phenomenons the world has ever experienced. The motivator behind this knotted thinking is simply self-preservation into invested interests.

Revolution is nine-tenths evolution. In the brief history of the World Wide Web, the reverse holds true. The Internet destroys in order to build.

"Industry leaders" are that because they are doing what works today. Maybe today's industry leaders will evolve to be tomorrow's industry leaders, or maybe they will be replaced by those with a more accurate vision of the future. But many are they who go broke waiting for their vision to become reality, while living in the present.

Great article, as usual, Duke!