Go Live on schedule for March 26, 2008 as .Asia outpaces .EU in quality and quantity
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Hong Kong, 30 November 2007: Individual companies and the general public will soon be eligible to register for available .Asia domain names when the Landrush phase kicks off on February 20, 2008. Landrush concludes on March 12, with Go Live (i.e. start of normal First-Come-First-Served registration process) scheduled for March 26, 2008.
During the Landrush phase anyone around the world can apply for any available .Asia domain, representing a golden opportunity for individuals looking to invest in the most prestigious and potentially profitable cyber real estate in Asia. Domain names receiving more than one application during the Landrush period will be auctioned between the applicants in an equitable process that would encourage the adoption of the .Asia domain. Popular “keyword” domains, such as names consisting of common terms are expected to generate the most intense bidding.
Last year, about 10.1 million new domain names were registered every quarter worldwide, compared with 8.7 million each quarter in 2005. “If you look at the trend in overall registrations, especially with the strong growth in Asia, we can project a huge number of applications during the Landrush period,” said Edmon Chung, DotAsia CEO.
A meticulous verification process has begun for the 15,000 applications received by the close of Sunrise 2a (the first phase of trademark Sunrise), with a majority already processed. The success rate to date has been extremely impressive. At over 95%, it is nearly double the rate of previous domain launches (such as for the .EU domain which was around 50%).
Chung added that, “Given the strict rules for the first phase of Sunrise coupled with the high success rate for the phase, not only do we believe that the launch has been smooth and successful, we estimate that .Asia is outpacing the .EU launch in quality as well as in net quantity. If the history of previous launches is an indicator, the first phase of Sunrise would represent about 10% of the total volume expected through Sunrise, and the total number from Sunrise would in turn represent about 10% of the total expected coming out of Landrush.”
According to the statistics at the .EU registry, the total number of accepted Sunrise registrations (based on National Trademarks and Company Names) was 102,799.
Bart Lieben, managing the .ASIA verification process for Deloitte and Laga, remarked: “Overall, the application process has been smooth and orderly. The high success rate is a testimony both to the comprehensiveness of DotAsia’s Sunrise Policies along with our mutual outreach efforts. Our experience in managing similar processes in the past has shown that the complexity of a trademark sunrise should not be overlooked. For the .ASIA Sunrise, we have put in an extra effort in order to ensure that genuine trademark owners are able to register the domains for which they held such rights, adding up to the overall success of the new name space.”
Chung urges companies that have not yet applied to protect their brands or trademarks by registering during the Sunrise period (which ends January 15, 2008), when trademarked corporations and registered juristic entities such as companies, organizations, societies, cooperatives, partnerships, and collectives in the DotAsia Community are given the priority to register their own entity name as a .Asia domain.
About DotAsia
The DotAsia Organisation (www.dotasia.org) is a not-for-profit community-based organisation incorporated in Hong Kong with a focused mission to operate the .Asia Registry. It is the sponsoring organization and registry operator for the .Asia sponsored generic top level domain. The DotAsia Organisation has a purposeful mandate to direct surplus proceeds to initiatives that benefit the community in the region, such as projects to bridge the digital divide and regional research development projects.
About Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, its member firms, and their respective subsidiaries and affiliates. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is an organization of member firms worldwide devoted to excellence in providing professional services and advice, focused on client service through a global strategy executed locally in nearly 140 countries. With access to the deep intellectual capital of approximately 150,000 people worldwide, Deloitte delivers services in four professional areas—audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services—and serves more than 80 percent of the world’s largest companies, and large national enterprises, public institutions, locally important clients, and successful, fast-growing global companies. Services are not provided by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Verein, and, for regulatory and other reasons, certain member firms do not provide services in all four professional areas.
As a Swiss Verein (association), neither Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu nor any of its member firms has any liability for each other’s acts or omissions. Each of the member firms is a separate and independent legal entity operating under the names “Deloitte,” “Deloitte & Touche,” “Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu,” or other related names.
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