According to the .ASIA registry's latest figures, total proceeds for the Sunrise and Landrush auctions are estimated at around US$7.2 million.
The registry is of course ecstatic about those results and to them this reaffirms that auctioning off disputed domains was the superior choice compared to the often contested "first come first serve" alternative used in the past by other registries around the world.
ICANN CEO Paul Twomey confirmed at the most recent Paris meeting that ICANN was looking into auctions as a possible mechanism for allocating gTLDs and hired the consulting firm PowerAuctions tostudy the potential benefits of an auction system, similar to the one the .Asia registry is utilizing.
It is not surprising to learn that the study's conclusions are very much in favor of the auction model. The study indicates that:
-
Applicants whose true intentions or abilities are to serve many users would be able to justify higher bids than applicants who will serve few users
- Applicants capable of providing high-quality service at low cost would be able to justify higher bids than low-quality, high-cost applicants
- Applicants who intend to develop the gTLD immediately would be able to justify higher bids than applicants whose purpose is to hold the gTLD, unused, for speculative purposes
Many of us will feel that these conclusions are biased in favor of an auction system designed to fill ICANN's coffers. Unfortunately, based on historical evidence, an alternative way of allocating gTLDs that truly works is not easy to find and the .Asia just reaffirms ICANN's new study.
Source: Written and Posted on September 9th, 2008 by Roland G. Buck - Chief Editor