Hi Keith, I think there is a market for Keywords now. The whole Realnames concept sounds good on the first look: web navigation without "www" and "dots". But I also think the benefit of RealNames is not that big that the average Internet user would use it. There is no big difference if someone has to type in (www.)bmxx5.com or bmw x5. Moreover Realnames are too expensive therefore it won't go mainstream and Internet users won't use it. Maybe it is something for trademark holders but not for the average webmaster or a speculator (which are important in this industry (ever sold a keyword on afternic?). My conclusion: We think we would sell some RealNames keywords but registrants wouldn't renew it because it won't pay for them.
Btw. what's going on with xtns and which impact has New.nets Quick! on Realnames? Simon > Hi all, > > Elliot Noss suggested I begin a thread on the discuss list regarding > RealNames. Before I do, let me disclose that I am the founder of the > company > and I have the goal of finding out more about how we might work with the > TUCOWS channel to help you service your customers in a manner where > RealNames, TUCOWS and the TUCOWS resellers all make money. > > I guess my main goal is to clarify the best way forward so I'll start with > a > few facts and then ask some questions. Then I'll wait to hear feedback. > > So.... some facts: > > 1. The RealNames system is a naming system for URL's. It allows natural > language names - in any language or script - to be aliased to any URL. > This > allows the natural language name to be typed into a browser and for the > user > to go directly to a web page. 2. The primary customers for the names > typically buy several names for a single web site. An example might be > Toyota buying "Toyota Camry"; "Toyota Corolla" etc for its web site. The > URL's for those products would typically be several slashes deep on > Toyota.com. 3. Like the original DNS, RealNames has architected the system > to be country-specific. There are therefore no "global" names. The only > way > to be global is to buy each country in a bundle. > > 2. RealNames has 3 products aimed at different customers. > > (a) Basic Keywords. This product has a typical street price of $50 > per year per country. RealNames has used search log file analysis to > identify almost 100m terms that qualify as Basic Keywords. They have in > common a low number of searches per month on search engines and are sold > on > a first come first served basis. There is a dispute policy run by WIPO for > ownership conflicts. The typical reseller price would be between $30-35, > so > the margin is about 30-40%, based on volume discounts. > (b) Keywords Plus. This product contains about 1.5m known terms and > is largely made up of well known brands, company names, product names, > people, books, movies etc. These names are not first come first served. > Due > to the high incidence of searches against them in the search log files > they > are assumed to be more valuable terms with IP concerns that need to be > addressed before sale. RealNames has therefore put in place what can be > seen > as a permanent sunrise period for these names. Human Beings approve an > application and will only give the name to the appropriate owner. Generic > terms are not allowed as Keywords Plus unless they are well branded and > the > brand has a higher user expectation than the generic term. An example > would > be Amazon. The approval policy is typically run by the Keyword registry > for > the country in question. Decisions can be overruled by WIPO if a KDRP > dispute is triggered. Keywords Plus are typically $500 per country per > year. > The reseller price is typically $300 - 350 based on volume. Margins are > between 30-40%. > (c) Typical sales breakdown between these products is 15% KW Plus; > 85% Basic Keywords. One registrar that has implemented the RealNames API > in > an integrated way - so that domain name customers are offered Keywords in > the list of available names - is seeing a 12% take-up rate among new > buyers. > (d) Keyword Name Spaces are a third product. This is aimed at the > largest customers. It consists of a prefix, dedicated to the customer, on > a > country basis. An example is "NASDAQ ticker" where any stock ticker can be > typed after the prefix NASDAQ. A stock quote is returned instantly. NASDAQ > is the customer in this example. Think of this as similar to a gTLD > purchase, except it takes the form of a prefix rather than a dot delimited > suffix. RealNames already has several customers for this. The prefix > cannot > be a generic term. The typical street price is $70,000 per country per > year. > There is a first year $80,000 engineering fee. The reseller price is > between > $40,000 and $50,000 depending on volume. Margins are lower but absolute > amounts are high. > Some other examples of Keyword Name Spaces are "rfc rfcnumber"; > "eBay anything"; "FedEx trackingnumber"; mskb > MicrosoftKnowledegBaseNumber". > In each case the second term is a variable. You can try them in your IE > browser. > (e) All products are sold by the reseller to its customer, and > renewals are processed by the reseller for continued annual revenues. > > 3. Keywords are beginning to show signs of mass adoption and acceptance: > > (a) In February 2002 there were 170m resolutions of Keywords. This > points to a Q1 total of over 450m. These successful resolutions are > unlikely > to represent more than 5% of the attempts by users to type Keywords into > their browser. The other 95% of the time the Keyword has not yet been sold > so the user gets a search result instead of a Keyword resolution. > (b) RealNames had no registrars at the beginning of 2001. It now has > 51. These registrars account for more than 60% of sales now - and that is > a > rapidly growing percentage. To date more than 1.1 million Keywords have > been > sold. > (c) VeriSign has built Keyword Sales into the VGRS and made it > available through EPP. 31 additional registrars have signed up to sell > Keywords through this channel. > (d) RealNames has entered the Media Metrix top 50 in the mid-30's > with almost 10m unique users a month on realnames.com - a name sales site > for our own registrar. The actual number of unique users of Keywords is > likely to be many times higher than that. No other name sales site is in > the > list - including VeriSign. > (e) At its Accra conference ICANN made 2.5 hours available for a > discussion of "Higher level naming systems, Keywords and other non-DNS > identifiers". RealNames played a major role, along with John Klensin of > the > IETF, and CNNIC of China, in the presentations. > > I'll leave the facts there for now. I'd be happy to answer question to the > list also. > > So here is my question. Does the TUCOWS channel feel that there would be a > market for Keywords now? > > If so, would you rather TUCOWS built Keywords into OpenSRS or would you > like > to deal directly with RealNames and its API's? > > How would you rate the prioritization of Keywords over, say, another gTLD, > in terms of the likely sales potential? > > I guess that is about it. I'm looking forward to your feedback. > > Best Regards > > Keith Teare > CEO/Founder > RealNames Corporation > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Keyword: The Big Wazoo > -- GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet. http://www.gmx.net
