Verisign (VRSN) the registry for .Com domain names, today has opened the General Registration Period for the first internationalized version of the .com top-level domain (TLD) in Japanese script, .コム, for anyone to register on a first come, first served basis, subject to availability and the applicable registry policies.
According to Verisign’s Blog:
“Today, Verisign is excited to announce the General Registration Period for .コム – the .com you know, now in Japanese – during which anyone can register .コム domain names on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to availability and the applicable registry policies. The General Registration Period for .コム began at 00:00:00 UTC on June 13, 2016, following the Landrush Program Period.*
It is estimated that 95 percent of the population of Japan uses the internet every day. [1] By enabling Japanese internet users to navigate the web in their native scripts, .コム gives individuals and companies the ability to connect with audiences in their preferred language. It also helps enable global brands to maintain a consistent brand identity.
In addition to helping maintain and promote your brand identity, a .コム domain name can yield other benefits. For example:
- If you are planning to launch a product or marketing campaign in Japan, using a new .コム domain name for your landing page can help your campaign stand out.
- Consider migrating existing content to a new .コム domain name, or redirecting your new .コム domain name to your existing site, to provide a way for Japanese internet users to navigate to your website in their native scripts.
- In any of the above scenarios, core brand associations and taglines could also be registered as .コム domain names, and redirected as desired.
Registering a .コム domain name is a powerful way to tailor your website to local customers with a domain name powered by Verisign. Don’t miss your opportunity to connect with this important audience. Register your .コム domain name before someone else does.
To learn more about .コム, click here.
sorry, but, IMO, a domain is really “international” ONLY if you can read it clearly in every country of the world and in every language
a DOT-C-O-M is that kind of domain, while, a .コム(that only Japan people can read) Isn’t that kind of domain
“Internationalized Domain Names” was really a poor name for non-Roman characters. IDNs are really, “Localized Domain Names (in this case localized for Japanese users) .
yes, and I believe that also the japanese prefer to register a .COM rather than a .コム
One of the reasons for this is, from what I was told, that typing an IDN.IDN name in a Japanese keyboard requires typing the IDN, switching to ASCII, type the dot, switch to IDN, type the IDN TLD. Hope that browser vendors catch up and find a better UX than that.
Japan is also a country that knows pretty well to do business internationally, and using their own native language is usually not the best for it… that’s why they will use some ASCII.ASCII domain, whether a .COM or not.
Chrome and IE users can actually input ベリサイン。コム directly into the browser — without changing the dot to ASCII. Copy and paste ベリサイン。コム into Chrome and watch it adjust the “。”
It doesn’t appear that Safari works with just the domain name, however, if you type in http://ベリサイン。コム it will take you to the correct webpage.
Verisign has let the names split. Imagine owning a Japanese idn.com and the idn.idn was owned by someone else.! Verisign has let this happen! They are killing idn’s with their cluster@@@k rollout. Save you money buy the idn.com if you can and forget about the idn.idn versign. If anyone does buy the idn.idn version of your idn.com then they will probably come calling eventually as most of the traffic does and will continue to go to the idn.com version.
Besides Verisign already mentioning in investor relations sessions that they fought to do a launch program as you mentioned and lost to ICANN unlimited bureaucracy, I can say as being there in the negotiating table how hard they really tried.
Thanks Rubens for the info. Regardless if is was Verisign or ICAN’t they certainly killed the strings. Too bad it was a HUGE opportunity to make the Internet truly inclusive. Instead they buggered it up massively. Oh well. Too many cooks in the kitchen killed the stew again.
Yes, but then they got greedy and seized all the best domains themselves by making the Premium, and a big risk for anyone taking the IDN.IDN version from them when IDN.com is registered.
Legally very dodgy. Just a question of whether anyone has the balls to try to roll them over.
Verisign’s problem is that in Japan and China, most inputting to get the local characters is done using a Latin Alphabet and everyone is familiar with ASCII Dot Com, so their new domain brings little to the table apart from grief, but if anyone wants some Single Characters in the Hiragana Script then for a six figure sum, I can probably help you out with a matched pair.
Best Regards
Dave Wrixon
Beside all pros and contras this TLD (those japanese letters) simply looking stylish.
That’s why I registered the domain with the highest possible ammount of コムin a .コムdomain months ago:
コムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコムコム.コム
Find more about it here:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/komu-verisigns-japanese-com-showcase-discussion-thread-on-namepros.930266/