New gTLDS announced by ICANN threaten .Tel ?

Just come across this link (thanks Mark Kolb - when are you going to join us at TelTalk ?) giving ICANN's approved list of new gTLDs - http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en

Having had a very quick scan of the extensions the immediate threat to .tel would appear to be .PHONE (2 operators allocated this) and maybe .TELEFONICA (depending on planned usage).

Further analysis of the new extenions may reveal other potential threats to .tel.

I have repeatedly stated on the Telnic forum that TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE re Telnic's lack of worldwide marketing and promotion - only for it to fall on deaf ears !

Today's reality of the new gTLDS is the final wakeup call for Telnic - will they at last get their marketing and promotion act together so that "Joe Public" finally goes through the AIDA process of Attention, Interest, Desire, Action ?

Or will .tel just drift along as before, losing developers, investors and users ?

Kash - how about a "State of .Tel" announcement/video designed to keep waverers onboard and bring back some of those who've given up and "lost the faith" ?

It may not work - but it's better than the lack of communication currently being experienced from a company dedicated to changing the way the world communicates !

http://MikeSeaton.tel

Don't just consider whether these new extensions offer a direct threat to .tel !

These new gTLDS will also be taking software developers & domain investors time and money !

http://MikeSeaton.tel

So what are the numbers?

There were 1,930 total applications. 751 of those applications cover 230 contested domain names.
That means we'll see up to 1,409 new top level domains realized from this round:

• 84 of the 1930 applications were designated as "community-based".
  
• 66 applications are for geographic names.
  
• There were 116 applications for Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs).

Applications came from 60 countries:

• 911 applications came from North America.
  
• 675 came from Europe.
  
• 303 came from Asia-Pacific.
  
• 24 came from Latin America and the Caribbean.
  
• 17 came from Africa.

What are the highlights?

• Amazon.com applies for 76 top level domain names including .cloud, .hot, .wow and .amazon.
  
• Google applies for 101 top level domains, see here:
  http://www.teltalk.org/t125-google-announces-top-level-domain-applications-including-lol-and-docs
  
• Microsoft applies for 11 (mostly) .brand domain names including .skype.
  
• VeriSign applies for 9 transliterations of .com and 3 of .net
  
• Amazon, Google, Symantec and 4 more have to fight for .cloud.
  
  
• Ebay doesn’t apply neither for .Ebay nor for .Paypal
  
• Facebook doesn’t apply for .Facebook.
  
• Twitter doesn’t apply for .Twitter.

mikeseaton wrote:Just come across this link (thanks Mark Kolb - when are you going to join us at TelTalk ?) giving ICANN's approved list of new gTLDs - http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en

info@vlad.tel applies for .Fans and .Pizza!

Realistically the issue is not the TLD extension as any service can be run on any domain extension so everything is a threat to .tel, and as you can get more out of a regular domain or social network link than a .tel provides, all new and old services and domains will always be a potential issue for .tels long term take up but should not be a reason to kill off our and future interest in .tel unless someone provides more than what .tel does with a great extension and for free, but I don't see companies throwing money at generic words as a reason to dump and run from using .tel.
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Because honestly most don't know what they're going to do with them other than try to sell them on like every other basic tld, these gtlds are being treated like an investment and not as a 'service' that people need, where as .tel is a service people should need and will fill most peoples basic needs, but what these new gtlds are also doing is watering down the potential return and in the long run is a GTLD BUBBLE, a disaster for everyone because if customers have too much choice and don't rally round or invest in one-two primary tlds regardless of the extension there wont be enough income to cover costs and to invest in any future service the extension dreams up or to meet regular running costs and with the market for customers being squeezed due to a coming total economic collapse it frankly makes all new GTLD's the true equivalent of a pump and dump or a shot in the dark with the hopes of being the one or two generics that get people buying/investing and make someone a return.
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Aka spitting domain customers into specific brackets and brands like .taxi, .airport won't provide the long term stability that's required it just waters down your potential customers to a particular bracket, which leaves you with far less income as a registry than the original registries have made, which is why investment companies like http://www.donuts.co/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=5 that masquerade as legitimate registry wanting to provide you good options buy up as many as they can grab in bulk.
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But .tel is universal as almost everyone has a phone number, I have more than 3 sim cards but only have 3 phones active and .tel is based on telephone the marketing that's been in peoples faces for many years so it has broad appeal to a diverse set of customers and developers who can give out name.taxi.tel, name.airport.tel which can be the brains/directory behind these new gtlds like name.taxi, name.airport.
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If telnic can prove .tel is something people need but focus on a want factor for status and ego not just brand then it will keep people paying and using it, if .tel has no feel good factor about giving it out either as for an email address or full url then it's worth nothing to most people.
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I have given out my real name as a .tel plenty of times including yesterday! and received very positive face to face feedback aka first@last.tel which I also use on my resume/cv so for me that's a feel good factor as it positively enhances my job chances and my face to face conversations, but for others idk.. but I'm sure the same can be said for name@taxi, name@airport, name@something.
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Also look whose applying for .yellowpages YELLOWPAGES Telstra Corporation Limited AU - - Ms. Janet Alison Wilson janet.wilson@sensis.com.au 1-1676-43685
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Though .tel has a unique brand that's been around for a very long time on adversing aka 'tel: number'; but now we need to get them to change it towards 'name.tel' a reverse of their marketing and outreach.
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en

There are definitely some TLDs the world can't live without:

.AFamilyCompany
.AfricaMagic
.AmericanFamily
.BananaRepublic
.Barefoot
.NorthwesternMutual
.SandvikCoromant

Seems like a competition for: "Who has the longest name on the web?"

And every applicant will spend 1 million $ (including operational costs) for this unique waste?
I guess some consultants have become very rich with this taradiddle!

.tel is supposed to be marketed and developed as an extension to your phone/number aka just having a phone number is nothing these days without having somewhere to put it or share it.
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But so far telnic haven't really been able to get .tel integrated beyond basic app developer status, I believe the long term success of .tel requires the storage of micro format information, so that when calling numbers we can share specific information between compatible systems, or when swiping business cards near a phone will grant access to it.
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When I or you give out a regular contact card that displays the .tel name, those cards should be sweepable by the handset to initiate a call on the .tel domain by looking up the dns data, we should have regular business cards with rfid chips or another chip that we can 'set' what information will be allowed by DNS transfer, aka if I goto a job interview i can give out a credit card type business card that allows a sweepable download of my resume, along side my name and basic information.
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If I actually get a job rather than spending time filling in data on paper I should be able to hand the lady doing the filling a card that allows access to not just my resume, but my home address, my home phone number, my next of kin, my bank details etc.
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There is a phone that allows you to set colored chips you hang round your neck to initiate a phone call to a particular person by swiping the handset with it, aka if you set 'red' as your mum when you swipe it near the phone it will call that number, this is to save time.
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This is what .tel should be about, the transfer of micro format information by swappable/sweepable business cards, and automated website systems and advanced internal phone networks to collect the data based on the .tel name.

Even one card would be enough, if we can 'set' what we wish to share and then hand the client or person that card to swipe against their handset or their internal network, then take it back and adjust it for the next client or meeting or job interview or a visit to the bank or etc.
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One that is universal and can be reused and reset on the fly would bridge the gap between having a digital .tel and being an upgrade to the regular business card market.
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Would save the environment as well, due to iphone moving towards remote storage of your contacts it should not be an issue about people loosing your contact details, and it might kill off the paper business card market or force them to make cheap chips to set and share .tel data.
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Data portability starts with me, not facebook or another gov run service.

If .tel with its innovative technical concept struggles to become successful, how all these nTLDs will struggle?

All relevant company names are taken under the TLD .tel. But when checking out which companies have applied for its own nTLD, I see a very big hole.

Internet users would use nTLDs only customary if most companies could be find under their own TLDs.
Probably this won't happen this century anymore!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2158704/Samsung-s-latest-innovation-smartphones-stickers--actually-theyre-pretty-clever.html
Another use could be to embed your business card details on a sticker - and then you can easily give your details to people with an NFC-equipped phone, like the S3 or HTC One X.
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Begs the question of why telnic insist on only storing twitter and facebook links and at a push your telephone number and are not pushing forward with a plan to be what .tel should be.

TEL has NOTHING that much "innovative" which is to serve the humanity in large. The hype and nice sexy girl on the train IS OVER, and you people have to get over it.

What was innovative is the whole story back before 10 years ago or earlier, when TELNIC started thinking and applying for it. Now is 10 years LATER. We have the web 2.0. We have the contact information of everybody available withing seconds. We have the Facebook and Social Networks.

The idea might sound at first sight good, well UHMM, MY CONTACT IS IN THE DNS? NICE, BUT WHAT IS THIS DNS?

But in the end, nobody except TELNIC and few small companies forced or paid for it by TELNIC is using that DNS to find out or search the contact information of anybody.

In the end TEL domain is a yet another CMS website with little maintenance, quite quick to setup and easy to maintain, unless it sometimes malfunction depending of the mood and competence of the administrators in background.

And even this "website" for contact information, called TEL domain, tries to be more than just DNS entry, it tries to, but fails hard, to give aesthetics to its paying users, and it tries to be a normal website with few pictures and even one video entry. It tries to accommodate its users' needs, regardless if that is not the original path of the TEL domain.

But it has to compete with all the other free websites such as ABOUT.ME and also to the new TOP LEVEL DOMAIN EXTENSIONS, for which many companies applied with ICANN:
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en

The question is not if TEL will survive, it will not survive in terms of ever growing user base. There will be always few naive person (absorbers) to register and pay for anything on Internet. But in general, what is happening now is that TEL looses big chunk of users and it will continue to loose.

The question is will it survive as extension at all, as TELNIC might be in debts or otherwise financial problems and not being able to continue long term with the maintenance of its technology.

Maybe it will be the first private TLD which is going to simply stop working.