5 Domain Events of the Year 2013 in China

Views:4677 Time:2014-01-15 14:47:13 Author: NiceNIC.NET

Translated by ICANN CNNIC HKIRC Accredited Registrar - http://nicenic.net

The rapid development of the Internet makes domain name rush in China continues to increase, and the role of the domain name is increasingly important as well. 2013 for the Chinese domain name industry is bound to be an extraordinary year, E-business tycoons nearly coincidently changed the main domains for their official websites, overwhelming arrival of new gTLDs era, cancel of previously-default restricted status of clientHold from .CN domain names, quantity of .CN domain registration exceeded 8,000,000 and CNNIC set reserved .CN & .中国 domain names free. It indicates that CHANGE of Chinese domain name market in 2014 would become more apparent and clear.

1. E-business Tycoons Change Main Domains One after Another
2013, the E-business industry ushered in rapid development period. As an Internet enterprise, website as the internet portal is vital, E-business entrepreneurs surely realized the importance of domain names.

Jingdong Mall officially started to use 2-letter domain JD.COM; Icson enabled double-Pinyin domain YiXun.COM; Shop No.1 replaced the triple-Pinyin domain YiHaoDian.COM with 3-letter YHD.COM; VIPSHOP spent tens of millions CNY to seize the premium domain VIP.COM.

2. Overwhelming Arrival of New gTLDs Era
Currently IPv6 has entered into a large-scale deployment phase, the existing domain suffixes can not meet the market demand anymore, so the new gTLDs came into being. New gTLDs will more obviously and accurately display what merchants' needs are in promoting goods & services and contribute to convenience of users/buyers searching information.

2013 is the year of new gTLDs' start-up, we believe that the new gTLDs will power the domain industry in China and strengthen the brand awareness. A number of domestic internet giants participated in the new gTLDs' application with ICANN, such as Baidu, Sina, Qihoo 360 etc.

3. Registration Quantity of .CN Domain Exceeds 8 Million
2007, CNNIC launched the fire sale of 1 CNY .CN, and it caused a big stir. .CN domain name registrations reached more than 13 million and China became the Top Domain Country. However, cheapness sowed seeds of future troubles eventually, .CN domain names are widely used in bad faith.
2009, CNNIC announced that individuals were not allowed to register .CN domain names. Unfortunately, in the next years, .CN domain registrations fell down to 6 million from 13.68 million.
As of May 2012, CNNIC re-opened the .CN domain registration to individuals.
According to CNNIC statistics in October 2013, we learned that .CN domain quantity broke through 8 million. This is the first time that .CN domain registrations have gone back to normal since 2009's limits.
Though the .CN domain registration quantity fell sharply in the past 4 years, the phenomenon of .CN domain being used in bad faith was effectively curbed and it laid a solid foundation for .CN domain flying higher.

4. clientHold Removal of .CN Domain Names
To further improve the service quality of Chinese domain name registration, at the end of October, 2013, CNNIC official made an announcement of clientHold Removal of .CN domain names, including .COM.CN, .NET.CN, .中国, .公司, .网络 etc.

clientHold Removal is very big good news for Chinese domain industry.
Previously, .CN domain name without ICP records could not be resolved with restricted status of clientHold on and .CN domain name was not available for individuals.
Presently, .CN domain name can be resolved completely once the domain name is activated with clientHold status offer and .CN odmain name was available for both companines and individuals.

5 Tens of Thousands of Reserved .CN Domains Go Public
Recently, CNNIC set 40 thousand previously-reserved .CN domain names free to the public.
There are 3 steps, first Sunrise, second Landrush, third Open. The Sunrise phase has finished, giants of China Unicom, Xiaomi Tech and SF-Express etc. got a head start and protected relevant .CN domain names successfully. The second phase of Landrush is right going on, it would offer great opportunities for both enterprises and individuals to seize premium hot 2-letter, single-Pinyin, double-Pinyin, 3-letter and brand .CN or .中国 domain names.

2013, frequent domain trading, arrival of new gTLDs and more attention by big Chinese enterprises to domain names spontaneously poured more vitality to Chinese domain industry. We are full of hope for 2014!

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