I previously blogged about the domain hacks that .me, the ccTld that was recently assigned to Montenegro by IANA had the potential for here. I went on to report about the public tender issued by the government of Montenegro and the subsequent narrowing of potential candidates.
In a press release today, it was announced that Godaddy‘s joint venture with two other registrars has been chosen by the government of Montenegro to operate the .ME ccTld.
GoDaddy.com, Afilias Global Registry Services and Me-Net have created a new organization called doMEn (the word for “domain” in Montenegrin) which will act as the operational body with strategic oversight for the domain extension.
Godaddy is renown for its marketing muscle which it will use to globally promote the .me brand, while Afilias will provide world class registry information similar to what it already uses for .INFO and .ORG amongst others.
“We’re excited about the phenomenal potential of .ME and our ability to market it to you, all Web users, as well as other registrars – and of course we’ll promote it in true GoDaddy-esque style,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “Couple .ME with our first-in-class customer support and the registry systems of Afilias and the possibilities are unlimited.”
The new alliance will invite all registries to add .ME to their list of tlds available to register by general customers. The .ME tld is available for registration to users from across the globe. There is no affiliation to Montenegro requirement.
The potential for the .ME tld is huge. ME is a word in many languages including English. Domains like about.me, help.me, play.me, buy.me, gift.me, view.me, hire.me etc will be very valuable on the global domain market.
I look forward to the launch of this tld.
To read the full godaddy press release go here.
The big issue that we see is whether or not trademark holders will be provided a sunrise registration. Every time a new domain extension becomes available, the opportunity exists for cybersquatters to grab domains protected by trademarks in order to divert traffic. Godaddy hasn’t said whether or not it will be providing a sunrise registration period for trademark holders as has occurred when the .mobi and other extensions have become available. We think the sunrise period is important to at least give trademark holders an opportunity to protect their intellectual property. Of course, precautions have to be put in place to ensure otherwise generic domains are left available for domainers and anyone else wanting a fair shot at registration.